THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES. - The 39 A. of R. of the Anglican Church are found at the end of almost all modern editions of the Book of Common Prayer. They are the result of a slow evolution from the purely schismatic doctrines of Henry VIII to the clearly heretical ones of continental Protestantism, with certain special characteristics of Anglicanism. After the first 10 a. published by Henry VIII (1509-47) in 1536, Cranmer composed in 1538, but did not publish, 13 a. pervaded with Lutheranism. A year later, in 1539, the king approved the 6 a. called the "whip of six cords," distinctly contrary to Protestant doctrines, which manifest the king's reaction against the Lutheran-Calvinist current. In 1552 Cranmer, by order of King Edward VI (1547-53), compiled 42 a., introducing into them part of his 13 a. of 1538. The Lutheran influence appears clearly in them, and here and there one discerns the Zwinglian-Calvinist doctrine on the Sacraments.
After the Catholic reaction of Mary Tudor (1553-1558), in 1563, under Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603), the 42 a. of 1552 were revised. Some were suppressed and others formulated anew: 38 remained in all. Through the direct intervention of the queen, the addition that is still found there today was made to a. 20: "The Church has power to decree rites and ceremonies and has authority in controversies of faith." Finally in 1571, with certain changes, a. 29 of 1552, which denied the real presence and had been suppressed in 1563, was restored; and the queen officially approved the 39 articles of religion, which are still in force. The attempt of Archbishop Whitgift, in 1595, to introduce into them the so-called 9 Lambeth Articles, with the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, was never approved by the queen, although these articles remained for some years as an appendix to the 39. The "Doctrine of the Church of England," long elaborated by a commission composed in its majority of Anglican bishops and ecclesiastics, was published in 1938. It was intended as an official explanation of the 39 a., meant to calm discussions; yet it not only failed to achieve its purpose but, on the contrary, increased doctrinal confusion.
The 39 a. are classified by some in this way: God three and one, I-V; rule of faith, VI-VIII; sin and salvation, IX-XVIII; Church, ministers and Sacraments, XIX-XXXVI; national Church, XXXVII; miscellany (property and oath), XXXVIII-XXXIX. Some errors are common with those of the continental Protestants, though set forth in vaguer terms; such are the condemnation of the Mass (XXXI), of purgatory, of indulgences and of the cult of the saints (XXII), of transubstantiation (XXVIII), of works of supererogation (XIV), of the number of Sacraments instituted by Our Lord (XXV), etc. Others are proper to Anglicanism, such as the supremacy of the king and queen of England over the Church (XXXVII), the admission of the episcopate (XXXVI), the marriage of bishops (XXXII), etc.
But what might be called the characteristic of these a. is their ambiguity or lack of clarity. In the dedicatory epistle to Pusey, which Forbes wrote as a preface to his Explanation of the 39 a., one reads: "The great German theologian Möhler claims that they are Calvinist, though he acknowledges their moderation; Archbishop Lawrence, in the Bampton lectures of 1804, seeks to demonstrate that they are purely Lutheran; F. a. Sancta Clara (Ch. Davenport) asserts that they are compatible with the decrees of Trent."
It is known that Newman, still a Protestant, in his famous Tract 90, attempted to interpret them in a Catholic sense, and W. Parker in his Harmony of Anglican Doctrine with the Doctrine of the Eastern Churches strove to adapt them to the catechism of the "Orthodox" church. In fact one notices, in most of the a., a certain tendency not to define words well, leaving the sense of the phrase somewhat vague, so that every reader may interpret it according to his own taste. It is enough to know the profound doctrinal differences that exist between the High Church, the Low Church and the Broad Church, which all accept the 39 a., to have confirmation of what has been said. J. Keating, examining the famous "Doctrine of the Church of England," points out that an Anglican may uphold or deny the virginal birth of Jesus Christ and his resurrection; for him it is an open question whether the Savior's miracles "of nature" are or are not real facts and whether Jesus erred in his teaching.
Finally, opinions on the value of the 39 a. are many. According to S. Carter and A. Weeks (cf. Protestant Dictionary), they have for Anglicans the same value that the Augsburg Confession has for Lutherans and the Tridentine confession of faith for Catholics. In the negotiations for the recognition of Anglican ordinations by the Russian Church, the Anglicans said that the a. were to be interpreted and explained according to the doctrines contained in the Prayer Book. To this the Russian "Orthodox," led by I. P. Sokolov, raised serious objections (cf. C. Crivelli, Anglicani e "Ortodossi" russi, in La Civiltà Catt., 1941, IV, p. 83 ff., 188 ff., 261 ff., 431 ff.). Others say that the a. must be abandoned and only the Prayer Book considered as the expression of the true doctrine of the Church of England. To obviate the difficulty that many Anglican ministers found in subscribing to the 39 a. before being ordained, it was necessary to add to the formula that assent to the a. did not extend to all the phrases contained in them. This is, as can be seen, an indeterminate clause, which can be interpreted at the whim of the new ordinand. v. also ANGLICANESIMO.