Communion No More

WITH a half millennium behind it, the Anglican Communion has had a good run. Its unique blend of Catholic and Protestant theology and ecclesiology, first outlined in Queen Elizabeth’s Act of Uniformity of 1559, has weathered turbulences as diverse as Cromwell’s Puritans and Stuart Catholics.

Over the centuries, it flourished. As English culture spread beyond its island home, Anglicanism outgrew its stature as a national church and became a religion of empire-first in North America and later in the African colonies. The faith grew dramatically in the last hundred years, and Anglicanism became a truly global church. Today, it is the third-largest Christian denomination, behind Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.

About the Author

Travis Kavulla

Travis Kavulla is director of Energy and Environmental Policy at the R Street Institute. He is a former president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners who held elected office as a Montana public service commissioner for eight years. Before that, he was an associate editor for National Review.

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WITH a half millennium behind it, the Anglican Communion has had a good run. Its unique blend of Catholic and Protestant theology and ecclesiology, first outlined in Queen Elizabeth’s Act of Uniformity of 1559, has weathered turbulences as diverse as Cromwell’s Puritans and Stuart Catholics.

Over the centuries, it flourished. As English culture spread beyond its island home, Anglicanism outgrew its stature as a national church and became a religion of empire-first in North America and later in the African colonies. The faith grew dramatically in the last hundred years, and Anglicanism became a truly global church. Today, it is the third-largest Christian denomination, behind Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.

About the Author

Travis Kavulla

Travis Kavulla is director of Energy and Environmental Policy at the R Street Institute. He is a former president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners who held elected office as a Montana public service commissioner for eight years. Before that, he was an associate editor for National Review.