Ecclesiological Ambiguities in Anglican Support for Episcopacy: Richard Hooker and the Caroline Divines

So far, the argument would appear straightforward: since the Reformation, Anglican ecclesiology has based its understanding of Church on the three Protestant notae ecclesiae of Word, sacrament and discipline. The true Church exists wherever the Gospel is preached and the sacraments are properly administered; episcopacy is used to practice the third Protestant mark of discipline, rather than to maintain ministerial, sacramental or ecclesial validity.