St. Philip’s Rochester Sermon Podcast

Inquirers’ Class — May 9, 2019 “What Episcopalians Believe”

May 13, 2019

Inquirers' Class

Session 2: What Episcopalians Believe

Outline

Anglicanism and the Via Media
1. Comprehensiveness—Catholic and Protestant
2. The Anglican Tripod: Scripture, Tradition, and Reason
3. “Praying Shapes Believing” or Lex orandi, lex credendi
Baptismal Covenant
1. The core understanding of what it means to be a Christian
2. Includes what we believe and how we live
Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral (BCP, p. 876)
1. Statement in the 19^thcentury of core understandings of Anglicanism
2. Necessitated by the ecumenical movement
Creeds
1. Apostles’ Creed — used in Holy Baptism and the Daily Office
2. Nicene Creed — required on Sundays
3. Other Creeds (BCP, p.864)
Catechism — An Outline of the Faith (BCP, p. 845)
1. A teaching guide to the core beliefs of the Episcopal Church
39 Articles (BCP, p. 867)
1. Historic principles established by the Church of England at the Reformation
2. Preoccupied with our differences from the Roman Catholic Church and Puritans
Other prayers and liturgies of the Prayer Book
1. Theology is embedded in all of our worship
Hymns in the hymnal
1. Words of hymns must be approved by General Convention
Statements of General Convention and of the Presiding Bishop
1. While not the essential dogma, these statements are the official positions of our church