The Revd Dr Peter Toon
Feb 11 2009
After the British Colonies of America became the United States of America,
the former Church of England organized itself in the 1780s as The Protestant
Episcopal Church of the U.S.A. It became a National Church with a growing
number of dioceses and as a province it was in communion with the Church of
England and such other Churches as the C of E was in communion with.
In the twentieth century it became common first to call this Church "ECUSA"
(Episcopal Church of the U.S.A.) and then TEC (The Episcopal Church) even
though its original long name is still its legal name.
Over the centuries, and especially in recent times, there have been
secessions of congregations, groups, partial dioceses and individual members
from PECUSA. Thus in 2009 TEC remains, though smaller-half the size of late
1960s-and alongside it are many "Anglican" groups. Yet TEC remains, perhaps
a little precariously, the official Province of the Anglican Communion of
Churches within the U.S.A.
For the sake of explanation and clarity, let us call the PECUSA/TEC "the
Church within the walls." Doing this allows us to speak of the variety of
other Anglicans in North America as "extra-mural Anglicans." That is they do
not belong to the original branch or root or organization which is the
continuing of the Church of England of the colonial period; rather, who they
are is determined by their exiting and seceding from PECUSA at the time they
did and for the reasons they gave.
Therefore some extra-mural Anglicans are old (e.g. Reformed Episcopal Church
from 1873) and some are new (missions from African provinces which began in
the twenty-first century). Yet others, who have called themselves " The
Continuing Anglicans", seceded in the late 1970s and remain but as several
small (usually anglo-catholic) denominations. Also various whole or part
dioceses of TEC have transferred to the Anglican Province of the Southern
Cone, until they can be formed, with other extra-mural Anglicans into a new
Province in North America.
This map of the church within the walls surrounded by many churches outside
the walls makes clear that Anglicanism is in a very confused state as a form
of Christian religion and that the common denominator which allows all the
many groups to use the title "Anglican" is a very minimal and weak. In fact
it may only be the name itself! It does not appear to be worship, doctrine,
discipline, polity or canon law; neither does it appear to be the historic
formularies of 1662 (BCP, Ordinal and Articles) or even the Lambeth
Quadrilateral. And it needs to be added that in the Church within the walls
there is a massive spectrum of worship and doctrine. In simple terms,
Anglicanism appears to be one big mess, with well-intentioned people here
and there seeking to make sense out of it all. Amazingly there are so many
seemingly healthy and missionary-minded local parishes and congregations,
who manage to turn a blind eye to the mess in which they live!
Where the Church within and the churches outside the walls are really
similar may be stated initially in two points.
First of all, each lives in the main by the rules of the massive American
supermarket of religions. This means that they find little or no
embarrassment in the general lack of unity amongst Anglicans, even amongst
those who claim to be of virtually the same faith and practice. And they
take for granted the status quo of division and competition amongst American
denominations and groups, which has existed for a couple of centuries. There
is a free for all and this is how it has been and will be, and the various
Anglican groups make the most of it from their perspective!
Secondly, and this may surprise many of my readers, it is an unwelcome fact
that the differing Anglican groups, liberal and conservative, new and old,
have come to terms with or embraced happily the post 1960s doctrine of
marriage, as this has been developed in the West (and which has been
described in detail by many sociologists). For all groups inside and outside
the "walls" this has meant a great increase in divorced and remarried
persons in the membership and ministry.
Further, for many in TEC this has meant expanding marriage to include
same-sex partners, while for those at the conservative end, the "Continuing
Anglicans", this has lead to exploiting the claim that a bishop can annul a
marriage that is recognized by the state, and those involved can then be
married "for the first time" as it were in church. Interestingly, the
actions of the liberals has led to a massive outcry and those of the
conservatives have hardly been noticed!
Amongst evangelicals and charismatics, who preach that Jesus is Lord, the
statistics are as amongst other groups. So throughout the whole of modern
Anglicanism the divorce and remarriage rates are very high (on a par with
secular society) and liberal seems not to differ from conservative in this
phenomenon. It is a topic generally known but rarely discussed for it is
accepted by many as simply how things are, and indeed have to be, given the
kind of society in which we live. (The Primates of Africa who are involved
in the USA Anglican scene seem to be aware of all this but as yet have not
spoken clearly to all about it. If they do they will cause massive division
amongst their present supporters.)
So the question arises most acutely as to whether or not there can ever be
anything like an orthodox Anglicanism, based on the Word of God and the best
traditions, in North America! Marriage states St Paul in Ephesians is a
"great mystery" and we have seemingly made it into a major sign of social
and ecclesial confusion along with disobedience of Jesus as the Lord.
No comments:
Post a Comment