Canterbury
About this date: The Gregorian mission in 597 predates the Reformation by many centuries. The present Anglican Communion developed later still; ancient Canterbury was not an already organized global Protestant communion.
Canterbury connects an older episcopal see with the English Reformation and the later worldwide Anglican Communion. Anglican accounts stress both continuity with the early Church and the changes of the sixteenth century. This is a particular Protestant and catholic tradition, not an administrative center for all Protestants.
Historical context
The see's long history crosses confessional divisions. The choice to include it in this perspective identifies its importance to Anglican history, not ownership of its entire earlier past.
Strongest alternative reading
Anglican self-understanding includes evangelical, catholic, and other emphases. Other Protestant and Catholic accounts do not necessarily accept the same claims of institutional or doctrinal continuity.
Key points
- The English Reformation changed the relationship with Rome without creating Christianity in Britain for the first time.
- Anglican provinces are autonomous churches with shared historical and liturgical ties.
- Canterbury's symbolic and historical role is not the same as a pope's claimed universal jurisdiction.