Anglicanism

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A branch of Christianity characterized by a combination of Anglican traditions and elements of Protestantism and Catholicism
2. A faith that emerged from the Church of England, promoting a middle way between Roman Catholicism and Protestant reform
3. A religious movement that upholds the doctrines and practices of the Anglican Communion while emphasizing scripture and reason in faith matters

Etymology: Anglicanism is a plain formation: the adjective "Anglican", meaning "of the English Church", with the suffix "-ism" added to name the system of belief and practice that goes with it. The adjective itself derives from the Medieval Latin "Anglicanus", built on "Anglus", the Latin name for the English, and the suffix "-ism" comes ultimately from the Ancient Greek "-ismos", which turned verbs into nouns of action, state or doctrine. The suffix passed into English through Latin and French, which is why it appears on so many words for beliefs and movements, such as Calvinism or Methodism. In "Anglicanism" it attaches to a name for a whole Church rather than a single teacher, so the word names a tradition that is at once a set of doctrines, a form of worship and a family of churches spread across the world.