Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, has issued a thoughtful response in the wake of The Episcopal Church’s actions. Looks like a split is a real possibility.
Other bloggers have commented on the text, notably the repeated statements that the Bible is the source of the Anglican Communion’s churches’ doctrine — which can’t be read in any other way than a criticism of The Episcopal Church’s endorsement of same-sex unions, really.
I was interested in this bit (line spacing edited by me to highlight the structure of the argument):
We do have a distinctive historic tradition–
a reformed commitment to the absolute priority of the Bible for deciding doctrine,
a catholic loyalty to the sacraments and the threefold ministry of bishops, priests and deacons,
and a habit of cultural sensitivity and intellectual flexibility that does not seek to close down unexpected questions too quickly.
….The different components in our heritage can, up to a point, flourish in isolation from each other. But any one of them pursued on its own would lead in a direction ultimately outside historic Anglicanism.
The reformed concern may lead towards a looser form of ministerial order and a stronger emphasis on the sole, unmediated authority of the Bible.
The catholic concern may lead to a high doctrine of visible and structural unification of the ordained ministry around a focal point.
The cultural and intellectual concern may lead to a style of Christian life aimed at giving spiritual depth to the general shape of the culture around and de-emphasising revelation and history.
Pursued far enough in isolation, each of these would lead to a different place – to strict evangelical Protestantism, to Roman Catholicism, to religious liberalism. To accept that each of these has a place in the church’s life and that they need each other means that the enthusiasts for each aspect have to be prepared to live with certain tensions or even sacrifices…
The only reason for being an Anglican is that this balance seems to you to be healthy for the Church Catholic overall, and that it helps people grow in discernment and holiness.
(Emphasis mine.) Well! That clears something up. Now I know why anyone would want to be Anglican.
It appears that it has to do with having your cake, eating it, and also giving it to your neighborhood food shelf, or something along those lines.
I don’t mean to be too facetious, but… It’s impossible to be Catholic, Protestant, and Modernist all at the same time. Is this really what Anglicanism is all about? Trying to sail somehow equally among the three strongest opposing currents in Christendom? I’m surprised that they don’t feel a bit guilty for leaving the Eastern Orthodox out of it.
Well, if Archbishop Williams is correct, I guess it explains the appeal of Anglicanism to so many. I wonder if he is correct. Perhaps we’ll learn more after the Anglican bishops meet next year.
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