The Relevance of Pusey’s Eirenicon Today: Intercommunion between Anglicans and Roman Catholics

Abstract

This paper investigates how Edward Pusey, a nineteenth century Anglican clergy and scholar responded to Edward Manning’s claim that the Church of England is not an authentic church. This led the former to write his Eirenicon, as an intellectual justification and a response to apostolicity and catholicity of the Anglican faith. Eirenicon is an example in rigorous dialogue on religious faith claims. The ecumenical rapprochement suggested by Pusey is very insightful: emphasis on the elements that unites Roman Catholics and Anglicans as rooted in traditions of the Apostolic Church. After more than 152 years, this work seeks for the relevance of Pusey’s Eirenicon in contemporary Roman Catholic–Anglican faith relationship.

Keywords: Apostolicity, Church of England, Oxford Movement, Eirenicon