Thanks, Fr. Tee.? I basically agree with you.
Of course, as an American, I can?t claim that I really understand or sufficiently appreciate the unique role of the CoE in English society, and I would defer to those of you on the other side of the Pond.? But perhaps I can offer some partial illumination of the issues by pointing to the benefits that Anglicanism has gained here in the USA from disestablishment, even though it initially almost killed us in Virginia, where I live.? As is well known, after the Revolutionary War, the Episcopal Church got off to a very bad start in the colonies where it had been the state church (Virginia, Georgia, both Caolinas, and Maryland.? For various reasons that together formed a sort of ?perfect storm? (including the sudden and complete loss of state funding, the fact that many Anglican clergy were Tories and hence regarded with great suspicion and resentment for their support of the British side in the war, and a general American desire to assert independence from England in many aspects of public life besides politics), Anglicanism was literally decimated in the southern colonies during that dark period.? By 1800, only 10% of the Anglican churches that had existed in 1776 were still operating, and it looked to many observers like the Episcopal Church might die out completely.
But then the miracle happened. Two outstanding evangelical bishops in a row (Moore and Meade) took over the helm in the devastated Diocese of Virginia and led a tremendous revival that is still astonishing.? Both men were not only gifted visionary leaders with integrity and unusual communication skills, they were also fervent evangelists with a very clear gospel message, undergirded by an uncompromisingly evangelical theological foundation.? There wasn?t a Broad Church or Latitudinarian bone in their bodies, much less a Catholic one: they were Protestant Anglicans to the core, and proud of it.? The trumpet call to battle that they issued was unmistakeable in its clarity, and many people rallied to the cause with enthusiasm (in the positive American sense of that term).? They founded Virginia Seminary in 1812, and despite all the trials and tribulations of the War of 1812 and other challenges, it quickly grew to be the largest and most influential seminary in the land, with an unashamed evangelical flavor (alas, now almost lost).
Now regular T19 readers know that although I?m a Wheaton grad and have been associated with Evangelicalism all my adult life, I?m also an ordinand of the Anglo-Catholic Diocese of Albany.? I also spent ten years in the Assembly of God Church and have been an active participant in the charismatic renewal movment for more than 30 years.? Hence I frequently like to refer to myself as a ?3-D? Christian: evangelical, catholic, and charismatic.
So what is the point in bringing up all that?? Well, two main points actually.? The first is that the great Virginia bishops Richard Moore and William Meade would?ve been profoundly uneasy with that 3-D stuff and extremely suspicious of my catholic and charismatic sides.? Nonetheless, I could?ve related to their passion for the gospel, church-planting and world mission, and their willingness to sacriifice everything for Christ and the Anglican cause, as they understood it.? And I think (perhaps too optimistically) that they might even have come to respect and tolerate me, if they were somehow transported by a time machine into our time, since I share a similar passion and willingness to sacrifice, and although my theological outlook is significantly different from theirs and may be paradoxical at times, at least we?d share an utter rejection of all Broad Church tendencies and all Liberalism (as an ism, i.e., all relativistic tendencies and doctrinal indifferentism).? We?d all be on the same side of the Culture War.
Secondly, to return to Ed West?s piece, I agree with him and with Fr. Tee above that one of the things that is killing us as Anglicans is the futile attempt to ?be all things to all people? (but not in the way Paul did, who never compromised the gospel).? Anglicanism may be a Big Tent, but it can?t include everything and everyone, and it?s absolutely absurd to pretend that we can or should.
I particularly liked West?s line about how you can?t expect any good to result from the union of a strong state to a weak church.? Indeed, I would go further myself.? A glance at ANY of the historic state churches of Europe, whether the Lutheran churches of Germany and Scandanavia, or the Reformed churches in Scotland, Netherlands, and Switzerland, or the Catholic Church in France and southern Europe, even a cursory look at them shows plainly that they are all pathetically weak.? The old Christendom marriage of Church and State has ALWAYS ended badly for the Church.? It ALWAYS turns out to favor the State at the expense of the Church, because it inevitably ends up compromising and muzzling the witness of the Church.? Just as has happened in England, despite the noble efforts of many honorable Anglican leaders to resist and overcome that universal and inherent tendency.
I hope that Pageantmaster and other English friends on this blog won?t resent my throwing in my opinion here in support of disestablishment.? I recognize that the risks are enormous, and that much depends on HOW such a momentous change comes about.? I can sympathize with those who fear that the CoE would simply collapse and not survive, as almost happened here in Virginia.
But in the end, in a post-Christendom cultural context like neo-pagan England, it?s really only a matter of time until the CoE suffers the inevitable fate of disestablishment, along with the Anglican churches of Wales or Ireland, or the Lutheran churches of Norway and Sweden, etc.? My point is that the triumphant experience of the Episcopal Church in Virginia shows that disestablishment can in fact prove to be a blessing in disguise.? IF, and it?s a huge if, IF the right sort of leaders rise up to lead the Church boldly into a new and brighter future, with the sort of clear and compelling vision that Bishops Moore and Meade did in 19th century Virginia.
David Handy+
October 31, 11:10 am | [comment link]Source: http://www.kendallharmon.net/t19/index.php/t19/article/45789/
Hunter Pence NBCOlympics Danell Leyva Ye Shiwen OJ Murdock Olympics Live Mens Gymnastics
No comments:
Post a Comment