The Church of England as a Bridge Church

This chapter discusses the concept of ‘bridge church’ as it has been developed in the Church of England. It shows how the idea became a common image of Anglicanism from those outside, especially Roman Catholic commentators including Yves Congar and George Tavard. It shows how this perception was a one-sided view of Anglicanism that gained currency among High Churchmen and was associated with the notion of via media which saw Anglicanism as the church of the Aristotelian mean and standing between the extremes represented by both Catholicism and Protestantism. This is demonstrated by a discussion of the work of two leading nineteenth-century Irish Anglicans, Alexander Knox and John Jebb. It concludes by showing how the concept of the via media has in practice served to caricature other churches and to open up Anglicans to the charge of complacency. It suggests that any churches seeking to build bridges must acknowledge the need to cross over to the ‘extremes’ and not regard themselves as already having reached perfection in the golden mean.