Anglicanism

===Sacramental doctrine and practice===
{{Main|Anglican sacraments}}
In accord with its prevailing self-identity as a ''[[via media]]'' or "middle path" of [[Western Christianity]], Anglican sacramental theology expresses elements in keeping with its status as being both a church in the [[Catholicity|Catholic]] tradition as well as a [[English Reformation|Reformed]] church. With respect to sacramental theology, the Catholic heritage is perhaps most strongly asserted in the importance Anglicanism places on the [[sacrament]]s as a means of [[Divine grace|grace]], [[sanctification]], and [[salvation]], as expressed in the church's [[liturgy]] and doctrine.

Of the seven sacraments, all Anglicans recognise [[Baptism]] and the [[Eucharist]] as being directly instituted by Christ. The other five – [[Confession (sacrament)|Confession/Absolution]], [[Christian view of marriage|Matrimony]], [[Confirmation (sacrament)|Confirmation]], [[Holy Orders]] (also called Ordination), and [[Anointing of the Sick]] (also called Unction) – are regarded variously as full sacraments by [[Anglo-Catholic]]s and many [[high church]] and some [[broad church|broad-church]] Anglicans, but merely as "sacramental rites" by other broad-church and [[low church|low-church]] Anglicans, especially [[evangelicalism|evangelical]]s associated with [[Reform (Anglican)|Reform UK]] and the [[Anglican Diocese of Sydney|Diocese of Sydney]].

====Eucharistic theology====
{{Main|Anglican eucharistic theology}}
Anglican eucharistic theology is divergent in practice, reflecting the essential comprehensiveness of the tradition. A few [[low church|low-church]] Anglicans take a strictly memorialist ([[Zwingli]]an) view of the sacrament. In other words, they see Holy Communion as a memorial to Christ's suffering, and participation in the Eucharist as both a re-enactment of the Last Supper and a foreshadowing of the heavenly banquet – the fulfilment of the eucharistic promise.

Other low-church Anglicans believe in the [[real presence of Christ in the Eucharist]] but deny that the presence of Christ is carnal or is necessarily localised in the bread and wine. Despite explicit criticism in the [[Thirty-Nine Articles]], many high-church or Anglo-Catholic Anglicans hold, more or less, the Catholic view of the real presence as expressed in the doctrine of [[transubstantiation]], seeing the Eucharist as a liturgical representation of Christ's atoning sacrifice with the elements actually transformed into Christ's body and blood.

The majority of Anglicans, however, have in common a belief in the real presence, defined in one way or another. To that extent, they are in the company of the continental reformer [[Martin Luther]] and Calvin rather than [[Ulrich Zwingli]]. The Catechism of the American BCP of 1976 repeats the standard Anglican view ("The outward and visible sign in the Eucharist is the bread and wine"..."The inward and spiritual grace in the Holy Communion is the Body and Blood of Christ given to his people, and received by faith") without further definition. It should be remembered that Anglicanism has no official doctrine on this matter, believing it is wiser to leave the Presence a mystery. The faithful can believe privately whatever explanation they favour, be it transubstantiation, consubstantiation, receptionism, or virtualism (the two{{clarify|reason=which two of the four?|date=January 2021}} most congenial to Anglicans for centuries until the Oxford Movement), each of which espouses belief in the real presence in one way or another, or memorialism, which has never been an option with Anglicans.

A famous Anglican aphorism regarding Christ's presence in the sacrament, commonly misattributed to [[Elizabeth I|Queen Elizabeth I]], is first found in print in a poem by [[John Donne]]:{{sfn|May|2007|pp=54–55}}

<blockquote><poem>
He was the word that spake it,
He took the bread and brake it:
And what that word did make it,
I do believe and take it.{{sfn|May|2007|pp=55, 66}}</poem></blockquote>

An Anglican position on the eucharistic sacrifice ("Sacrifice of the Mass") was expressed in the response ''[[Saepius officio]]'' of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to [[Pope Leo XIII]]'s papal encyclical ''[[Apostolicae curae]]'': viz. that the Prayer Book contained a strong sacrificial theology. Later revisions of the Prayer Book influenced by the Scottish Canon of 1764 first adopted by the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1789 made this assertion quite evident: "we do make and celebrate before thy Divine Majesty with these thy holy gifts, which we now ''offer'' unto thee, the memorial thy Son has commanded us to make", which is repeated in the 1929 English BCP and included in such words or others such as "present" or "show forth" in subsequent revisions.

Anglican and Roman Catholic representatives declared that they had "substantial agreement on the doctrine of the Eucharist" in the ''Windsor Statement on Eucharistic Doctrine'' by the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Consultation (1971)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/angl-comm-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_1971_eucharistic-doctrine_en.html|title=Eucharistic Doctrine, 1971|website=www.vatican.va|access-date=15 March 2020|archive-date=16 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200416083433/http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/angl-comm-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_1971_eucharistic-doctrine_en.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and the Elucidation of the ARCIC Windsor Statement (1979). The final response (1991) to these documents by the Vatican made it plain that it did not consider the degree of agreement reached to be satisfactory.