You cannot talk about Anglicanism’s (Church of England) without talking about its spiritual problems. To be frank, the church is slowly disappearing. While the Roman Catholic Church is in the same disarray, Anglicanism is worse.
By Pastor David Cox (Baptist Fundamentalist).
A narrow view of the term “protestant” is anybody protesting the Roman Catholic Church. Few “Protestants” would consider themselves “Protestants” because the term in itself has the idea that “we all began as Roman Catholics”. Personally, I hold to the belief that this is not the case.
For a more historical presentation of Anglicanism, please read this article from Wikipedia.org first.
Anglicanism – Wikipedia.org
My opinion of Anglicanism is that it is more or less “warmed over Catholicism”. Much of the structure and practice of Anglicanism comes directly from Catholicism. Once you understand the origin of the Anglican church (a refusal of Catholics to submit to Rome), then you see their historical and philosophical framework, i.e. they are Catholics of a non-Rome sort. During the formation of Anglicanism in England, there were a group of Catholic priests that went into Anglicanism, and there was a group that refused and stayed loyal to the Roman Catholic church (even until today). In reference to this, please see the Oxford Movement, which is a movement of returning Anglican clergy back into the church of Roman. Bishop Newman was one that returned to Roman Catholicism from being an Anglican priest.
