Written by: Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner
Monday, January 5th, 2009
Work in formulating and adopting an Anglican Covenant is proceeding, and with renewed focus. I judge this to be the case despite some vocal claims that the project is both pointless and perverse. Most of these limited and negative claims have come from Western Anglicans intent on maintaining their local autonomy in terms of non-accountability to other Anglican churches and the Communion at large; and among these voices, not surprisingly, is a preponderance of Americans. But there have also been conservative voices, associated with the primarily non-Western group known as GAFCON (Global Anglican Future Conference), that have labeled the Covenant process as “futile” and “irrelevant” because of its purported lack of theological and disciplinary substance.
I was deeply disappointed that almost 200 Anglican bishops associated with GAFCON did not come to the 2008 Lambeth Conference, and so failed to engage a discussion on the Covenant with their colleagues. One might be left with the impression, in fact, that they share the negative views of both liberals and GAFCON spokespeople, something that, although not fatal to the Covenant itself, at least presents major challenges. However, the recent publication of the provisional Constitution for the proposed province of the Anglican Church of North America, warmly supported by and supporting GAFCON, seems to provide a very different perspective. For this Constitution in fact embodies many of the very things the current Covenant draft articulates, and in some measures provides even more latitude to members. Whether consciously or not, the Constitution reflects important aspects, in its own proposed intra-provincial relations, that we have long argued are necessary, possible, and realistic elements of communion-oriented commitments. To this degree, the Constitution demonstrates, perhaps despite itself, a convergence of vision with the current Covenant direction. read more…
January 05 2009 | Articles
Written by: The Anglican Communion Institute, Inc.
Thursday, January 1st, 2009
I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance
(Rev. 2:2a)
When referring to the response given to the tumult within The Episcopal Church (TEC) by those with more traditional theological and moral commitments, it is at present a matter of common parlance to speak of an “inside” and an “outside” strategy. At first glance, reference to an “inside strategy” and an “outside strategy” suggests two groups that have similar goals but employ different tactics to reach those goals. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that this way of describing the two groups serves to distort rather than clarify the differences between them. It is of signal importance that these differences be clarified and openly debated. They in fact reveal fault lines in understanding the nature of the Christian witness itself that threaten to divide the entire Anglican Communion.
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January 01 2009 | Articles
Written by: Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner
Monday, December 15th, 2008
The last few years of struggle within the Episcopal Church (TEC) and within the Anglican Communion have taken their toll on many persons and congregations, and on our common life in a larger way. Every day brings some new report on the impending or already achieved “break-up” of Anglicanism and on the spectacle of “global schism”, even while Anglican leaders insist that this hasn’t happened yet. Many congregations in the United States, and some in Canada, have left their denominations for other forms of Anglican relationship. Even more congregations, including many that have left TEC, have been torn by conflict or bled by tension and malaise, and TEC’s membership has shown a steady and alarming drop in the past three or four years. Declarations affirming something “new” about to begin or demanding something “old” be restored are issued from various groups, and the project of developing “adequate structures” or even canons for this or that ministry, mission, and witness is seen by many as a necessity, even if understood in contradictory ways.
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December 15 2008 | Articles
Written by: The Anglican Communion Institute, Inc.
Thursday, December 11th, 2008
By her action purporting to accept a “renunciation” by Bishop Iker of his ordained ministry, the Presiding Bishop has taken her abuse and contortion of TEC’s canons to a new level. In doing so, however, she has inexplicably conceded that Bishop Iker has not violated the Constitution and Canons of TEC and that he is no longer subject to its discipline. This clearly unintended consequence not only will have serious implications for any future litigation in Fort Worth, it once again calls into question the canonical validity of numerous actions she has taken over the past year.
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December 11 2008 | Articles
Written by: The Anglican Communion Institute, Inc.
Monday, December 1st, 2008
St Martin’s Episcopal Church, Houston will host the next in the series, with talks addressing Major Anglican Figures, Ethics, Reconciliation in Burundi, Sacraments and Anglican Worship, Biblical Interpretation and other topics. Former Archbishop George Carey will be Chaplain at the conference and will speak on Anglicanism today.
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December 01 2008 | Articles
Written by: Rev. Dr. Philip Turner
Sunday, November 30th, 2008
I am pleased that my article “The Subversion of the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church” has generated the discussion it has. A number of the responses simply display the toxic atmosphere that sadly prevents the blogs from realizing their potential for furthering genuine debate. There have, however, been a number that are serious in their intent and deserve a measured response.
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November 30 2008 | Articles
Written by: The Rev. Charles D. Alley, Ph.D.
Friday, November 28th, 2008
The terms “inside and outside strategies” have been bantered about the blogosphere and the print media with a bit of abandon. Such a nomenclature assumes that those forming a new province in North America and those remaining in TEC are working toward the same goal in two different manners. As with all assumptions, no clear understanding can be realized without clarity of what exactly it is that is being assumed. In short, the question we must honestly answer is whether we do indeed have the same goal in mind. I would submit that the answer is, “No.”
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November 28 2008 | Articles
Written by: Rev. Dr. Philip Turner
Friday, November 21st, 2008
Recent actions of The Episcopal Church (TEC) in the matter of Gene Robinson have sent shock waves throughout that church and indeed throughout the Anglican Communion. These actions present both TEC and the Communion unprecedented challenges to their forms of order and governance. Indeed, an underlying assumption of this essay is that neither TEC nor the Anglican Communion as a whole at present has instruments and forms of governance capable of coping with a crisis of this magnitude. As a result, solutions (if they can be called that) are being improvised in great haste and often with little thought.
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November 21 2008 | Articles
Written by: Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
A new “province” for North American Anglicans is now promised to be “up and running” in the next month or so. It will comprise the 3-4 dioceses that have voted to leave TEC; the associations of various congregations that have left TEC (e.g. CANA) and those started outside of TEC from departing groups; it will also include congregations and denominations within the Anglican tradition that have formed over the past decades in North America. All of these groups now form part of an association called Common Cause.
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November 18 2008 | Articles
Written by: The Anglican Communion Institute, Inc.
Thursday, November 13th, 2008
The Communion Partner Rectors met at St Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston 5-7 November. Forty Rectors were able to be present. We were supported by the Bishops of Texas, Western Louisiana, Western Kansas and Central Florida, who were able to be present as representatives of the fifteen Bishops involved with Communion Partners.
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November 13 2008 | Articles
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