Archive for October, 2007
Written by: The Anglican Communion Institute, Inc.
Sunday, October 21st, 2007
Many Anglicans were convinced that September 30th, 2007, would bring clarity to the ongoing struggle within the Anglican Communion over the church’s coherent witness. By this day, it was hoped, there would be a clear decision as to the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops commitment to abide by the common teaching and discipline of the Communion; by this date “realignment” according to the definitions of this teaching and discipline would proceed with general and orderly consent. Obviously, this has not happened. But a new push to re-order the lines of jurisdiction within American Anglicanism has occurred nonetheless, one that has necessarily proceeded without common consent or order. Oddly enough, it is happening – as it has in the past – with a special intensity and passion within dioceses led by bishops who have long opposed the innovations of TEC’s leadership and General Convention and remained faithful to the teaching and discipline of the Communion.
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October 21 2007 | Articles
Written by: Rev. Dr. Andrew Goddard
Wednesday, October 17th, 2007
As many predicted, some hopefully and some fearfully, the Joint Standing Committee (JSC) have given a positive assessment of the response of the The Episcopal Church’s (TEC) House of Bishops to the Primates’ Questions from Dar Es Salaam. In particular, in relation to the two key requests concerning TEC’s response to The Windsor Report (TWR), JSC conclude
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October 17 2007 | Articles
Written by: Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner
Friday, October 12th, 2007
I have been invited to talk about something called “conciliarism” and its relevance for our life as Anglican Christians. There is an obvious reason for exposing this topic in a public forum within our church. And this is because, in the current struggle within Anglicanism, we have, both by default and by design, ended up acting out a debate over whether our Christian lives as churches together are to be governed by “common consent” within a council, or by some other, more local, individual, or informal means. And more generally, although conciliarism is not exactly a hot topic within the larger world, there has been increased academic interest in the subject of late. Last year, a fine book appeared on the matter by the Anglican Paul Avis. A couple of years ago, the great Medieval scholar and educationalist Francis Oakley came out with the first popular overview of the subject ever, published by Oxford University Press. And over the past 50 years, there has been a steady and lively scholarly stream of research on conciliarism emerging, especially in the journals. My own plan during this conference is to provide you with a brief overview of the concept of conciliarism, historically and theologically – that is what I will do in my first talk – and then, in my second talk, do some application of the concept and practice to our current situation within Anglicanism.
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October 12 2007 | Articles
Written by: The Anglican Communion Institute, Inc.
Friday, October 5th, 2007
Introduction and Context
In July 2006, following the response of General Convention to the requests of the Windsor Report, the Archbishop of Canterbury said, “There is no way in which the Anglican Communion can remain unchanged by what is happening at the moment”. In February 2007, the Primates at Dar concluded that “the response of The Episcopal Church to the requests made at Dromantine has not persuaded this meeting that we are yet in a position to recognise that The Episcopal Church has mended its broken relationships” and sought a further response with the warning that “if the reassurances requested of the House of Bishops cannot in good conscience be given, the relationship between The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion as a whole remains damaged at best, and this has consequences for the full participation of the Church in the life of the Communion”. It is therefore unsurprising that last week, after the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church had met to seek to respond to the Primates, the Secretary General of the Communion wrote that “The Joint Standing Committee is also conscious that the very life of the Communion is standing at a crossroads at present”.
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October 05 2007 | Articles