Author Archive
Written by: Rev. Dr. Philip Turner
Tuesday, May 24th, 2011
After several iterations and a good bit of political chicanery the proposed Anglican Covenant has been sent to the provinces for their consideration, adoption or rejection. Prediction is always a chancy matter. Nevertheless, despite the welcome accession of the Province of South East Asia and the Affirmation of the Church of Ireland, if one observes the virtual disappearance of the Archbishop of Canterbury from the process, and if one looks at the comments that fly around on the blogs it appears that the chances for adoption are in decline. The moral authority vested in the Archbishop is not being exercised. Emboldened by silence from the center, with growing vigor progressive voices object to the fourth section of the proposal because they see in it a form of centralized authority that would limit the autonomy of the provinces. Similarly emboldened, traditionalists object that the covenant lacks sufficient doctrinal specificity and effective means of discipline. They want shared belief and practice to play a dominant role in the definition of Anglicanism. As clearly illustrated by the recent statement by the GAFCON Primates Council, many with conservative convictions want to give the covenant a more confessional form and they want it to contain effective means of enforcement.
This dispute both reflects and creates a good bit of heat. It does not, however, create much light. Indeed, in its present form the dispute serves to obscure what the covenant is actually proposing. Both parties miss the meaning and implications of the two terms upon which the logic of the covenant depends. Both miss the covenant’s central proposal, and direct attention to matters that do not and cannot serve as the basis of communion.
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May 24 2011 | Articles
Written by: Rev. Dr. Philip Turner
Friday, April 15th, 2011
For many years I studied in England or worked within the British sphere of influence; and during that time I learned to look forward to Alastair Cooke’s, “Letter from America.” I enjoyed his broadcasts immensely because of their positive presentation of American life. I was surrounded by the British media that portrayed America as a cautionary tale warning the British people that, if they were not careful, they might become like their American cousins. A positive word about my “homeland” provided a welcome antidote to compliments from my English friends that were in truth insults. “You’re so nice,” they would say. “You don’t seem like an American at all”
I am tempted to entitle this essay also “A Letter from America.” This time, however, the letter would comment on how these fears have been realized. From afar, Britons look increasingly like their American cousins, and the change in appearance has not been for the better. How is this so? The difference in English usage remains and increases daily. Public manners remain (marginally) more civil in England, and the English Bobby still provides a welcome alternative to “The Wire.”
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April 15 2011 | Articles
Written by: Rev. Dr. Philip Turner
Saturday, February 19th, 2011
The Meeting of the Primates of the Anglican Communion just concluded in Dublin might well mark the breakdown and consequent breakup of what has been the Anglican Communion. Up to a dozen Primates who come from the most populous areas of the Anglican Communion refused to attend. They did so because the Archbishop of Canterbury, ignoring his pledge that there would be “consequences” resulting from the actions of The Episcopal Church (TEC), insisted nonetheless on inviting its Presiding Bishop. From an ecclesiological perspective, the meeting itself proved vacuous, producing little more than points gathered on newsprint by a facilitor. If Dublin is linked with the obvious failure of both the last Lambeth Conference and the last meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, one is forced to conclude that none of the supposed “Instruments of Communion” have been able to address the divisions in the Communion in a satisfactory manner. This series of failures has left the Anglican Communion with no effective means to sustain unity among its autonomous provinces.
Sadly, as things now stand, the Archbishop of Canterbury has lost his ability to serve as an effective symbol and focus for the unity of Anglicans. In effect, he now presides over a vastly reduced grouping of Provinces dominated by native English speakers who represent the liberal edge of what is a dominantly conservative body of churches. It is simply the case that the Provinces that contain the majority of the world’s Anglicans do not feel that they are adequately represented and respected in the councils of the church. They have chosen not to participate until this situation is remedied.
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February 19 2011 | Articles
Written by: Rev. Dr. Philip Turner
Wednesday, February 9th, 2011
Paul Bagshaw has published an essay entitled “End Game” that requires a response. (http://notthesamestream.blogspot.com/2011/02/end-game.html) Citing a report by George Conger, he agrees that we are at the “end of the Communion we once thought we knew;” and he has provided a very credible sketch of what Anglicanism will look like going forward. What he has not done is point out what a disaster this ending and this future are. Indeed, there is something almost surreal about his failure to make clear the true import of the likely course of events he presents. Hence the title of this response “It’s Time to Get Real.” The purpose behind this title is to present the full extent of the disaster and the bleak prospects for the future signaled by this end.
First, however, in what sense are we, as Bagshaw rightly says, at an end? Among other signs of the end Bagshaw lists these changes that follow from the Dublin meeting.
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February 09 2011 | Articles
Written by: Rev. Dr. Philip Turner
Tuesday, January 4th, 2011
This is the third in a series of essays on the proposed Anglican Covenant.” The first, entitled “Communion, Order and Dissent,” attempted to present what might be called the inner logic of the covenant–a logic that rests upon a commitment by all the provinces to “mutual subjection within the body of Christ.” The second had [...]
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January 04 2011 | Articles
Written by: Rev. Dr. Philip Turner
Friday, December 10th, 2010
The purpose of this essay is to address a question to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, The Anglican Communion Office (ACO) and to the upcoming Meeting of the Primates. How are they, and indeed how is the Anglican Communion as a whole, to address the question of dissent? The [...]
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December 10 2010 | Articles
Written by: Rev. Dr. Philip Turner
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
The meeting of the Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council (hereafter the Standing Committee) has just finished its deliberations. It was reported in The Standing Committee Daily Bulletin that Dato’ Stanley Isaacs had proposed, “The Episcopal Church (hereafter TEC) be separated from the Communion.” This proposal was rejected because it was believed, “Separation would inhibit dialogue on this and other issues among Communion Provinces.”
This brief notice is yet another signal that the Anglican Communion stands in unparalleled danger. The way in which TEC does business poses a serious threat to the evangelical and catholic identity of our Communion. I write to point out the nature of that threat and to call upon those responsible for its future health to take vigorous steps to halt an increasingly obvious attempt by TEC to remake the Anglican Communion over in its own image.
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August 03 2010 | Articles
Written by: Rev. Dr. Philip Turner
Thursday, June 10th, 2010
In the brief time since first it appeared, the recent pastoral letter to the Episcopal Church by its Presiding Bishop has brought forth a voluminous and heated response. If, however, this letter is to be assessed adequately, it is not enough to celebrate its boldness or decry its inaccuracies and half-truths. Before assessing the moral and spiritual worth of the letter or picking apart its various claims, it is necessary to ask just what purpose this letter is meant to serve. Once an examination of this sort is complete, it will become clear that the argument put forward by the Presiding Bishop is a stark example of the tail wagging the dog.
Clearly the Presiding Bishop’s Pastoral was written in response to the Pentecost letter of the Archbishop of Canterbury. In that letter the Archbishop made it clear that the recent actions of TEC raise questions about the suitability of members of our church to represent the Anglican Communion in conversations with the Communion’s ecumenical partners. He also indicated that he, as Archbishop of Canterbury, has authority to determine the status of the Presiding Bishop in respect to the meeting of the Primates. He said as well that he intends to consult with the Primates about the most prudent course for the exercise this authority.
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June 10 2010 | Articles
Written by: Rev. Dr. Philip Turner
Sunday, February 7th, 2010
I owe it to my readers to provide an explanation of a puzzling title. What does a discussion of “communion, order, and dissent” have to do with the well-known and well-loved children’s story of Puss and Boots? Remember, in the story, the hero can only reach his goal if he listens to a despised cat that he must take as his companion on the way. It would seem that the point of the story is that attention must be given to what we might otherwise despise if we are to succeed in our more “high flown” endeavors.
My point is that hierarchy, the subject of this conference, is an aspect of church order, and both have become something like the cat in Puss and Boots. We cannot reach our more noble goals without these unwelcome sources of help. Nevertheless, for some years we have neglected these despised companions, and as a result our church and our communion are in a terrible mess. Indeed, our seminaries do little or nothing to introduce future clergy to the importance of church polity. I remember when I was in seminary the arguments about church order that so engaged the Reformers were mentioned, but only in passing. Polity, we were told, is a subject we ought to “bone up on” because there would be polity questions on our General Ordination Exams. The message was clear. Hierarchy and order are not very important subjects. Yet, here we are at the beginning of the 21st Century faced with fiercely debated polity issues. The debate centers on the communion wide challenge of an Anglican Covenant and on a domestic legal battle over the meaning of the constitution and canons of The Episcopal Church (TEC). The former challenge might produce a divided communion and/or result in TEC becoming a second track form of Anglicanism. The latter might produce a change in our constitution effected by a secular court rather than constitutionally mandated procedures.
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February 07 2010 | Articles
Written by: Rev. Dr. Philip Turner
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
In recent days, Fr. Mark Harris has published a comment on Bishop Stanton’s address to the Convention of the Diocese of Dallas (link) entitled “Bishop Stanton barks up the wrong tree so that we won’t notice the bite.” (link) The comment demands response because it shows so clearly the dubious nature of both the substance [...]
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November 10 2009 | Articles
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