Continuing Anglicanism? The History, Theology, and Contexts of “The Affirmation of St Louis” (1977)*

Abstract

In September 1977, following a gathering of just under two thousand conservative North American Anglicans at St Louis, Missouri, emerged “The Affirmation of St Louis” (1977), an articulation of an Anglican vision born out of a conservative Anglo‐Catholic ecclesiology. Claiming to represent the “continuation” of orthodox Anglicanism, contrary to an alleged apostasy by the Anglican Church of Canada and the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America, “Continuing Anglicanism” emerged as an ecclesiology of a number of Anglican jurisdictions who exist to this day outside the Anglican Communion. This paper discusses the ecclesiology and history of this movement — notably, its foundational doctrinal articulation: “The Affirmation of St Louis.” Viewed within the context of the history of Anglican theology, Continuing Anglicanism's conservative articulation is broadly but distinctly from the Anglo‐Catholic tradition. Continuing Anglicanism's claim to continuity is, therefore, accompanied with the problems of discontinuity. Viewed within the context of other Anglican bodies who have left the comprehensive boundaries of the modern Anglican Communion, the challenges of identity and unity have been persistent elements of the Continuing Anglican story since its formal inception in 1977.