Covenants and Fragments
Covenants and Fragments
By Ephraim Radner
THE LIVING CHURCH
http://www.scribd.com/doc/75871511/Radner-AMiA
January 1, 2012
The recently disclosed rupture in the relationship of the Rwandan House of Bishops and bishops of the Anglican Mission in the Americas, although hardly yet resolved or completely transparent, illumines at least a couple of key elements about ecclesial existence, especially among Anglicans. I was never a supporter of the AMiA's formation, for mainly two reasons: it diluted traditional Anglican witness within North America and it provided a model of and stoked the dynamics for Anglican fragmentation around the world. But for all that, many of the AMiA's leaders have been people of enormous missionary commitment and skill, and the public dispute among their American and Rwandan leaders hardly does them the honor they deserve.
But what does the dispute illumine? First, it clarifies some of the perennial limitations of "strategizing" for the Church's "reform." These limitations, it needs to be said, afflict Christians of all theological commitments, not just the AMiA. And they do so precisely because strategizing reform is an inevitably political process that demands marshaling decision-making powers and, in the case of ecclesial recognition ("replacement" provinces, "pressures" on Canterbury, and the rest), persuading other such powers on one's behalf.
Read the full story at www.VirtueOnline.org
By Ephraim Radner
THE LIVING CHURCH
http://www.scribd.com/doc/75871511/Radner-AMiA
January 1, 2012
The recently disclosed rupture in the relationship of the Rwandan House of Bishops and bishops of the Anglican Mission in the Americas, although hardly yet resolved or completely transparent, illumines at least a couple of key elements about ecclesial existence, especially among Anglicans. I was never a supporter of the AMiA's formation, for mainly two reasons: it diluted traditional Anglican witness within North America and it provided a model of and stoked the dynamics for Anglican fragmentation around the world. But for all that, many of the AMiA's leaders have been people of enormous missionary commitment and skill, and the public dispute among their American and Rwandan leaders hardly does them the honor they deserve.
But what does the dispute illumine? First, it clarifies some of the perennial limitations of "strategizing" for the Church's "reform." These limitations, it needs to be said, afflict Christians of all theological commitments, not just the AMiA. And they do so precisely because strategizing reform is an inevitably political process that demands marshaling decision-making powers and, in the case of ecclesial recognition ("replacement" provinces, "pressures" on Canterbury, and the rest), persuading other such powers on one's behalf.
Read the full story at www.VirtueOnline.org
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