Father Jones Gives Us a History Lesson

Father Greg Jones at Anglican Centrist offers a fascinating history of schisms past in the Anglican Communion. Father Jones is truly a centrist when it comes to the current crisis in the Communion over sexuality, and anything he writes is well worth a close read. This is especially so here since the history was the topic of his dissertation.

One of the more fascinating features of this history is that while the first large schism was by early evangelicals leaving the church over the 1662 Prayer Book, the modern day Evangelicals within the Anglican Communion are listing that very prayer book as a foundational document for any confessional identity for the Communion:


"What is truly bizarre in all this is that the new-fangled conservative separatists are all confused in their heads. They are proposing a 'confessional identity' for Anglicans -- which is to say a minimum standard of faith which all must ascribe to to be included as 'Anglican.' The idea of a confessional identity is essentially a Calvinist idea. Yet, among the basic documents they are suggesting is the 1662 Prayer Book.

"As we have seen, the 1662 Prayer Book is itself the specific cause of a great deal of schism and controversy in Anglicanism for centuries. Notably, if evangelicals historically could not abide by the clear language of the prayer book, how on earth could today's so-called Anglican Evangelicals be able to do so now? Is it because they are not really reasserting timeless truths but reinterpreting them afresh to suit their current minds? Or is it because they don't really know what the 1662 book says? Or what?

"And what of the question of powerful bishops and romanizing germs? These were pre-schismatic obsessions in earlier times by protestant folks. But now they realignment party seems in favor of centralizing power in the Anglican tradition into the hands of prelates.

"We are now seeing a group of supposedly evangelical folks looking for two things that historically have caused evangelicals to leave Anglicanism."

Read it all: Anglican Centrist 20 -- History Lesson on Anglican Schisms Past

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Giles Fraser on Gay Marriage

Image
The Rev. Gileas Fraser offers thoughtful piece on gay marriage on BBC Radio this morning: Back in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as the Book of Common Prayer was being put together, marriage was said to be for three purposes: First, It was ordained for the procreation of children … Secondly, It was ordained for a remedy against sin, and to avoid fornication .. Thirdly, It was ordained for the mutual society, help, and comfort, that the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity. How do these three concerns relate to the prospect of gay marriage? The third priority insists that marriage is designed to bring human beings into loving and supportive relationships. Surely no one can deny that homosexual men and women are in as much need of loving and supportive relationships as anybody else. And equally deserving of them too. This one seems pretty clear. The second priority relates to the encouragement of monogamy. The Archbishop of Canterbury himself has rig
Read more

Religious Map of United States

Image
This map shows which of eight major Christian denominations has a plurality in the United States, county by county. the map obviously does not capture the full story given the rich diversity of Christian denominations in the United States, but it does show much of the regionalization of the major denominations. The map and analysis can be found here . Hat Tip to my friend Jim .
Read more

New Climate Change Study

What a coincidence. Yesterday, I blogged about the James Dobson et al "We Get It" effort to deny climate change. Yesterday, NASA scientists issued a new report showing a strong causal link between human activity and climate change. Here is the Science Daily report: A vast array of physical and biological systems across the earth are being affected by warming temperatures caused by humans, says a new analysis of information not previously assembled all in one spot. The effects on living things include earlier leafing of trees and plants over many regions; movements of species to higher latitudes and altitudes in the northern hemisphere; changes in bird migrations in Europe, North America and Australia; and shifting of the oceans' plankton and fish from cold- to warm-adapted communities. "Humans are influencing climate through increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and the warming world is causing impacts on physical and biological systems attributable at the global scal
Read more