Anglican theology has always been defined by The Book of Common Prayer. If we want to know what we believe, we are well advised to read the prayer book.

One place to begin is with the historic Creeds. These are the statements of faith that have been handed down to us over the centuries. They have evolved from the turmoil of times when the Church struggled to define Christian theology against false teachings. A second, and perhaps more helpful place of exploration would be the Catechism, found on page 845 of the Book of Common Prayer.

The three essentials of our faith, as they have been received in our branch of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church, are biblical, historical and evangelical.

We are biblical in the best sense of the word. We are not fundamentalist Christians who believe in the literal infallibility of the Scriptures. Rather, we believe the bible is the story of how the people of faith understood and responded to a God who acts in history. Each book of the Bible is a record of what people at a particular time wanted to say about their experience with God.

We are a historical church in the sense that we are conscious that our beliefs and practices are deeply rooted in the past. We are also historical in the sense that history involves the passage of time and that the passage of time involves change.

We are evangelical in that we believe in the goodness of human beings as the children of God. We are also evangelical in that we recognize our capacity for sin and that our salvation is made possible because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Biblical, historical and evangelical -- these words, when properly understood, describe who we are and what we believe.