The Via Media

The Anglican Church seeks to be the via media, the "middle way" between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Unlike the protestant churches, Anglicanism does not reject doctrines just to separate themselves from Roman Catholicism, not does it embrace others to differentiate itself from others. It does not forsake the ancient church or the Fathers, but seeks to honor all that is holy and good (and there is much that is holy and good) within Roman Catholicism. At the same time, however, the Anglican Church recognized the need for reform during the reformation and responded, making changes deemed necessary for complete faithfulness to the early church. To use an elementary term then, the Anglican church is truly the "best of both worlds", but, most importantly, Anglicanism is the expression of all that is both Evangelical and Apostolic, both Scriptural and Orthodox, both permanent and reformed.