That is where we will always disagree. What does Henry XVIII have to do with Hooker, Andrews, Taylor, Donne, Herbert, Laud? Nothing.
As Henry predeceased all these fellows by a bit, it would have been difficult for him to have much of anything to do with them.
But what do THEY have to do with Henry?
For some of these, much, as it turns out. For others, less, but still something. They developed the beliefs and theology that they did because of the path that Henry set. The COFE was neither completely Catholic nor completely Protestant. This is in large part because Henry wasn't a Reformer, just a schismatic.
Let's look at Rev. Hooker, as an example. Here's a blurb from wiki that I think isn't especially unjust to him:
“Hooker's emphases on reason, tolerance and the value of tradition considerably influenced the development of Anglicanism.”
Sorry, but emphasis especially on reason and the value of tradition are Catholic values. Just wouldn't have happened if Henry had created a Protestant COFE.
I believe that Archbishop Laud was big on various High Church ideas, including Apostolic Succession. Hmmm... I wonder where that came from... the Catholic inheritance of Anglicanism... or the Reformation influence...
Bishop Andrewes, not so much. From what I can tell, he was a thorough-going Protestant. Not Henry's type of guy at all.
Nonetheless, a fellow like Bishop Andrewes would have never been ANYTHING in the Church IN England, which Henry abrogated. It was only after being severed from the Catholic Church that such a fellow as this could have had a career in the clergy in Great Britain.
Even if you were willing to deny the truth that Henry had a significant interest and knowledge in theology, ecclesiology, etc., and that he was active in these arenas, it is beyond dispute that he setup the COFE, and it was within the parameters that he initially created the COFE developed, both in terms of theology and ecclesiology. Others, too, had roles in creating the history of the COFE in both regards. Edward (or perhaps more accurately, his regents) partially Protestantized the COFE. Mary did what she thought she could to reverse that. Elizabeth struck the compromise that permitted her father's Catholicism and her brother's Protestantism to exist, in some form, side-by-side within the COFE.
Each played a significant role in the creation and development of the COFE. The folks who came after guided their theological watercraft between the banks established first by Henry and then by those that succeeded him.
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