Anglo-Orthodox and Evangelical Common Ground

Blessed Bishops William Laud, Lancelot Andrewes, John Cosin, and Jeremy Taylor.
The Anglican Vicariate Fulfills the Dream of the Caroline Divines, to be an English Church in Full Unity with the Teachings, Practice and Communion of the Local Orthodox Churches.

By Bp. Joseph

1. God 

Both Christian Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism believes that God is the Creator and Sustainer of the world. They would both orient life purpose toward fulfilling God’s will, following God’s commandments and having a relationship with God as mankind’s ultimate destiny. They would differ on how they understood this to take place, and would also see God interacting with the world in different ways. Eastern Orthodoxy and Western Christian mysticism sees God “present everywhere and filling all things,” while Evangelical Protestantism would see truth mediated by the Bible, would have a greater sense of God’s impassibility, and might have a stronger sense of fatalism due to the influences of the Reformers. 

2. Scripture 

Both the Orthodox and the Evangelical hold to a high view of Scripture, believing it to be “God Breathed” and that it is based upon a prophetic work that was initiated by and preserved through the work of the Holy Spirit. The interpretive method is different between the two paradigms, one being intertextual and dependent upon the synodality of the Apostolic Church in the Episcopacy, and the Evangelical view being far more egalitarian in approach, focusing on a simplistic view of textual meaning that is obvious to all sincere Christian believers. Therefore, there is no need to submit to a tradition of interpretation within Evangelicalism, which leads to multiple views that are all assumed to be more or less right, leading to a tolerance of pluralism and a lack of doctrinal authority. 

3. The Church 

Historic Christianity has a strong sense of the Church as the “Body of Christ” and sees it as a real, visible and necessary spiritual reality, a covenant community in which salvation is found through the Holy Spirit, where sacraments strengthen one’s walk of faith, and where Christ is palpably present. Evangelicalism, however, believes that official church membership is only a formality, usually associated with an obligation to tithe, and that it in no way affects one’s spiritual life and relationship with God. Evangelicalism has often developed “parachurch” ministries, which are companies run for non-profit or for-profit endeavors, which are believed to be, in many ways, just as valid as churches in the work of the ministry. Anglo-Orthodoxy would insist, however, that no ministry can take place outside of the Apostolic Church, that it is accomplished through the lives of Baptized Christians, and that it takes part in the sacramental realities of the Church. Historically, Christian Orthodoxy has put a much higher value on the lives of saints and martyrs for evangelism, and holds “products” and creative gimmicks to be unfruitful areas of occupation for Christians. 

4. Eschatology 

Both the Historic Orthodox and Evangelical churches approach believes in the coming judgment of the world by Jesus Christ, His literal return to rule and reign upon the earth, and the necessity of submitting to Him to insure the blessedness of souls who are judged in the Eschaton. 

5. Experience 

Anglo-Orthodoxy would side with the ascetical saints of history and hold to a belief that fasting, prayer, giving alms, silence, and “first works” of Christian discipleship (spiritual fatherhood and motherhood) is central to the sanctification of the individual believer, and manifests God’s work in good works, signs, wonders, insights, spiritual counseling, evangelism and a martyrdom. This process is guided by visions of light and holiness that permeate the individual and allow them to continue following God in faith and hope. Evangelicalism, however, often focuses on quantifiable aspects of outward experience, such as number of congregants, excitement over new forms of music or preaching, and monetary success as evidences of God’s blessing. Ultimate spiritual success is often tied to the number of followers one has, and the impact that one’s approach makes on other Evangelical leaders. This, then, tends to negate the traditional forms of Christian piety seen in Church history, quiet prayer, times in the desert, and self-negation, and focuses on forms of “self-realization” more recognizable within the secular culture. 

6. Ethics 

Anglo-Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism would share many aspects of a conservative Western Culture. Evangelicals and Anglo-Orthodox are both “conservative” in the sense that they believe that something other than their own culture is the standard, and that a certain point in past history reveals the whole message of God’s Gospel, which leads to salvation. This, then, makes the Evangelical and the Anglo-Orthodox look to history for answers and obligates both communities to submit to ancient history as a standard in all matters spiritual and moral. It is manifest in a willingness to keep social and cultural norms that are considered repugnant by progressives and secularists, and a general distastes for the modern views of women’s rights, homosexual marriage, transgenderism, abortion and euthanasia. In this, Orthodox Christians and Evangelicals are allies. 

7. Summary 

The Anglo-Orthodox Christian and the Protestant Evangelical of Methodist, Non-Denominational, Baptist, or Freewill traditions, hold much in common and can learn much from one another. Orthodox Christians can learn about the possibilities of evangelism and friend-making, mission work and personal responsibility from the Evangelical. Orthodoxy has often failed to start parishes as quickly and with as limited of personal resources, and tends to be “top heavy” on the ground, requiring huge amounts of money, time and energy to transfer clunky episcopal hierarchies to new places. Evangelicals can learn about the original biblical and Early Church culture, the original meaning of Scriptural texts that they love so well, the practical obedience of the individual to a spiritual hierarchy, which is an embodied ecclesiology, the profound and life-changing theology of sacraments of the Early Church, and inter-generational discipleship from the ancient and unbroken history of Orthodoxy. Evangelicalism has profoundly failed to create a sustainable culture of discipleship and personal holiness in its churches, and has settled for a focus on encouraging music and self-help speakers instead. Fundamentally, however, they are different epistemologies towards the same body of texts and historical practices, expressing two different understandings of ecclesiology and pneumatology, and hold radically differing views on the implications of the Doctrine of Incarnation, Christ’s institution of the Sacraments, and the role of the individual in the Church to interpret truth and to submit to the historical paradigms of Christian life. Thus, Evangelicalism and Christian Orthodoxy are not interchangeable forms of Christianity. 

Anglo-Orthodoxy is the fullness of the Christian Faith and has been passed down without interruption into the modern world in the English-speaking context, with its basic teachings and attitudes intact, despite the massive challenges and persecutions that it has encountered along the way. Evangelicalism is a historical innovation, created from a convergence of translational misunderstandings, wrong doctrinal presuppositions and political realities that interfered with England and America’s return to the embrace of the historic Church as envisioned by our Caroline Fathers, the British Orthodox Non-Jurors, and the Oxford Fathers. We pray that the Anglican Vicariate of the Orthodox Archdiocese of America will continue to grow and fill the void within the English Tradition, left by the doctrinal compromise of Anglicanism and the internal weakness of Evangelicalism, so that our English Patrimony can shine once more from within the Western culture that we have inherited from faithful Christian forefathers!