The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion are the historic defining statement of doctrine that emerged from the English Reformation. They grew out of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer's earlier Forty-Two Articles (1553), were revised under Archbishop Matthew Parker during the reign of Elizabeth I, and were finalised by the Convocation of the Church of England in 1571.
The Articles were written to define the Church of England's position between Roman Catholic teaching and the more radical Protestant reformers on the European continent — often deliberately worded to hold together as broad a range of English Christians as possible. They are traditionally grouped into four sections: Articles 1–8 on the Trinity and the person of Christ; 9–18 on sin and salvation; 19–31 on the Church and the sacraments; and 32–39 on church discipline, order, and civil authority.
The Thirty-Nine Articles are printed in the Book of Common Prayer and continue to inform Anglican theology across the Communion, though how binding they are on clergy and churches today varies from province to province.