Anglican Doctrine in its Clarity & Variety: Thirty-Nine Articles – new CD of 13 commentaries

There was a time when churchmen of all schools took The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion most seriously as the first Formulary of the Church of England (usually listed before the BCP & Ordinal) and as a statement of how the C. of E. came through the sixteenth century upholding the Reformed Catholic Faith, avoiding the excesses of Rome on the one hand and "Anabaptism" (radical reformation) on the other.

This "time" stretched from the sixteenth to the early part of the twentieth century, but then with the onrush of modernity The Articles were seemingly forgotten. However, with the present crisis in Anglicanism, there is a new interest in The Articles of Religion as a kind of signpost as to the real identity of the Anglican Way. Therefore, the Prayer Book Society has placed on one CD in pdf no less than THIRTEEN major expositions. (2nd hand these volumes would cost $300.00 or more)

The Prayer Book Society offers this CD for $20.00 – go to www.anglicanmarketplace.com and use your credit card. or send a check to PBS, Box 35220, Philadelphia, PA. 19128-0220.

As an introduction to this topic, you may also wish to read the essay on The Articles by Dr Peter Toon in the book, THE STUDY OF ANGLICANISM, ed. John Booty & Stephen Sykes, revised edition, SPCK & Fortress, 1998. Or, better perhaps, you may choose to read his recent 2006 essay/booklet on The Anglican Formularies and Holy Scripture, available at www.anglicanmarketplace.com for $7.50, postage included.

The PBS thanks Miss Irene C. Teas for her great work in producing this CD of 13 books.

Not all Episcopalians in The Network led by the Bishop of Pittsburgh seem to realize that the Episcopal Church set aside the Articles, along with the other Formularies, in 1979 when it adopted its new Prayer Book, and made that innovative Prayer Book its only Formulary and Standard of Doctrine. Thus part of the coming renewal of the Anglican Way in America will be the re-adoption of the Articles and the embracing of their basic teaching concerning Who is God, Who is Jesus, What is Salvation, How many Sacraments and such like matters..

We invite you to discover the depth of theological thought in the Anglican Way in these expositions from evangelicals, latitudinarians and high churchmen and be refreshed in the teaching of the same Anglican Way.

In looking over The Articles, you will see that they refer to The Homilies as another authoritative source of Anglican doctrine. Edgeways Books of the UK has recently published a new edition of The Homilies, edited by Ian Robinson , a leading expert on the use of English in the period of the Reformation and immediately afterwards. Visit www. edgewaysbooks.com to buy in the UK and www.anglicanmarketplace.com to buy in the USA. In difficulty call 1-800-PBS-1928

To read the Articles go to the 1662, 1928 (USA) and 1962 (Canadian) editions of the classic BCP, where they are printed at the back. Also, take a magnifying glass to read them as "a historical document" at the back of the American 1979 prayer book.