Classical Anglicanism does not affirm the modern doctrine of a pre-tribulation rapture. Rooted in the theology of the Thirty-Nine Articles and the historic Books of Common Prayer, Anglican eschatology has traditionally taught that Christ will return visibly and bodily at the end of history. At that time, the dead will be raised, humanity will be judged, and the faithful will be gathered into eternal communion with God.
This understanding reflects the mainstream Christian expectation of a single, public Second Coming, rather than a two-stage return of Christ that involves a secret removal of believers before a period of tribulation. The pre-tribulation rapture doctrine emerged in the nineteenth century through the influence of John Nelson Darby and later became prominent within dispensationalist and certain evangelical traditions. However, it has no significant precedent in historic Anglican theology.
While individual Anglicans may hold a variety of eschatological views, the classical Anglican position is best characterized as rejecting the distinctive dispensational rapture in favor of a unified doctrine of Christ’s final return, resurrection, and judgment.
