Is That So?

By Robin G. Jordan

The Anglican Church in North America has posted a new downloadable ACNA brochure on its web site, "New Brochure Highlights the Vision of the Anglican Church in North America." This brochure contains what may be described as the official ACNA explanation of Anglicanism. The brochure is divided into four sections, titled “From the Archbishop,” “What it means to be an Anglican Christian,” “The Anglican Church in North America,” and “What we do together.”

One thing that struck me about the brochure was that it appeared to have been written for Christians, not non-Christians. It was also full of inaccurate and misleading statements. In this article I take a look at a selection of these statements.

The first section, “From the Archbishop,” contains a brief letter from Archbishop Robert Duncan. It is typical Bob Duncan, heavy on buzzwords and catchphrases and light on clarity of meaning. In my mind’s eye I can see one of today’s post-modern, post-Christians scratching his head over what Archbishop Bob meant by “offering the ancient-future treasures of the Christian faith in a highly accessible form.” I am reminded of what the apostle Paul said about using intelligible language.

Among the claims that the Archbishop makes is that Anglicans “value and practice true community.” Duncan has read the literature about how today’s young people’s need for community. This quite evidently motivated this statement. But he is stretching the truth when he asserts that Anglicans “value and practice true community.” Some do—but do all? The need for community in young people and churches’ response to this need is a new development. It was not something that concerned Anglicans 50 years ago, much less 100 years ago. While the creation of real community may be a desirable goal to pursue in the twenty-first century, it is inaccurate to present it as an Anglican distinctive.

Duncan also claims that the Anglican tradition “grasps the power of worship to transport believers into the presence of God.” This idea is traceable to the worship and praise movement, which has its roots in Pentecostalism. It reflects a modern charismatic preoccupation with having some tangible experience of God in worship, and not a historic Anglican view of worship. The latter view is articulated in the Exhortation before the General Confession in Morning Prayer in The Book of Common Prayer of 1662.

…we assemble and meet together to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands, to set forth his most worthy praise, to hear his most holy Word, and to ask those things which are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as the soul.

Th historic Anglican view of worship is further expounded in An Homily of the Right Use of the Church, An Homily Concerning Prayer, and An Homily of the Place and Time of Prayer.

The next section, “What it means to be an Anglican Christian,” claims that Anglicanism melds the rich history and traditions of both catholic and protestant Christianity.” “Meld” means “merge” or “blend.” This concept of Anglicanism is a recent one. It is traceable to the nineteenth century Tractarian “via media” theory of Anglicanism and the more recent charismatic “three streams, one river” theory of Anglicanism. Both accept doctrines and practices that the Anglican Reformers rejected on the grounds that they were not consonant with the Scriptures and promote redefinitions of Anglicanism that make room for these doctrines and practices. The editors of A Protestant Dictionary in the Preface of their book explain how Anglicans have understood the relationship between Protestantism and Catholicism up until the nineteenth century and how those who are faithful to authentic historic Anglicanism continue to understand this relationship.

As the word “Protestant,” which occurs in the title of this work, is often misrepresented, a few remarks respecting its meaning may be useful. “Protestant” and “Catholic” are terms which, when rightly understood, are not conflicting. True Protestantism holds firmly to the truths set forth in the Creeds of the Apostolic Church, and protests only against unscriptural additions made to the Primitive Faith. Protestantism is the re-affirmation of that Faith combined with a distinct protest against those errors of doctrine, ritual, and practice which were brought, as St. Peter says, “privily” into the Church of Christ (2 Pet. ii. 2), but which were accepted as “Church teaching” in mediaeval times, and are still too prevalent. The word Protestantism stands for the return to Primitive and Apostolic Christianity. It is the reassertion of “the faith once for all delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). When Protestantism is negative in its declarations, it is only to preserve and accentuate some truth which is being perverted. Like the great “Ten Words” as the Jews were wont to term “the Ten Commandments,” truths sometimes appear to be simply negations, when in reality they are very far from having that character, as our Lord’s summary of that Law (Matt xxii. 36-40) abundantly proves.

There is no merging or blending of two traditions involved here. There is only one tradition—the Protestant-Reformed Catholic tradition.

This section goes on to claim, “Anglican congregations bring together vibrant faith in Jesus Christ, a commitment to the trustworthiness and authority of Scripture, the beauty of liturgical worship, and an expectation of the powerful work of the Holy Spirit.” Some Anglican congregations may indeed do this but here again I must ask, “Do all?” I doubt that every congregation in the Anglican Church in North America fits this description. What this brochure is advertising is a product that may be available only in some areas. This statement is not just misleading. It comprises false advertising.

In the third section, “The Anglican Church in North America” I was struck by the similarity between the sentiments expressed in the first sentence and the watered-down version of the Gospel that pastors have preached to the young people that Barna and others report are abandoning Christianity in large numbers. The Gospel message they heard was, “accept Jesus and live a happier life.” This section contains three statements and an accompanying explanation for each statement that further show that the brochure is promoting a new concept of Anglicanism, not authentic historical Anglicanism. The influence of “three streams, one river” theology is quite evident.

The first statement is, “Anglican Christians are evangelical Christians.” Authentic historic Anglicanism is evangelical. The problem is the accompanying explanation of what it means to be evangelical. Being evangelical involves more than believing that “the Bible is the Word of God and has a unique authority in our lives.” The Tractarians also believed that the Bible was God’s Word and had a unique authority in the life of a Christian. But they were not evangelicals. Believing that the Bible has a unique authority in a Christian’s life is not the same as believing that it is the supreme and final authority in all matters of faith and practice. The word “evangelical” is derived from the Greek word, “evangelion,” or glad tidings—a reference to the Gospel of Grace. A true evangelical believes that the essence of Gospel teaching is salvation by grace by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone, as opposed to sacraments and good works. The English Reformers called themselves “gospel men,” which is another way of saying “evangelicals.” The English Reformation was sparked by their rediscovery of the Gospel of Grace in the New Testament. “God’s love for the world expressed in Jesus,” which the accompanying explanation describes as “Good News that we are all called to share with everyone” is a watered-down version of the Gospel. It makes no mention of the Cross. The explanation of what being evangelical means is inaccurate and adequate. It represents a redefinition of the term “evangelical” that permits its application to people who are not evangelical in the classical Anglican sense.

The second statement is, “Anglican Christians are catholic Christians.” As in the case of the preceding statement, the problem is the accompanying explanation.

We are part of a worldwide church of more than 80 million people that grew out of the Church of England. We are united to each other and to the broader Christian tradition by a shared way of worship, church order, and the celebration and sharing of the sacraments, especially Baptism and Holy Communion.

The English Reformers did not understand being catholic in terms of union with a larger church. This view is too close to the Roman view of being catholic, which they believed was “strange and erroneous.”. They regarded the reformed Church of England as catholic because it had retained “the ancient common heritage of Christendom, in biblical form.” It had maintained such practices as liturgical worship, infant baptism, and episcopal ministry that had been handed down from antiquity. While the English Reformers valued this heritage, they would use “the standard of Scripture, applied by reason, to correct whatever needed correcting in the church’s inherited forms.” Among the reforms that they made were to recognize that only two sacraments were instituted by Christ and were a part of this heritage. Confirmation, penance, ordination, matrimony, and extreme unction were not sacraments. They had in part developed from a false understanding of apostolic practice and in part represented states of life allowed in the Scriptures. The accompanying explanation, however, infers that there are more than two sacraments. This is not the position of authentic historic Anglicanism but nineteenth century Tractarianism.

The third statement is, “Anglican Christians are charismatic Christians.” In this particular case the problem is largely the statement itself. The English Reformers believed that the Holy Spirit was at work in the believer. However, they did not believe that the Holy Spirit working in the believer distinguished Anglican Christians from other Christians, rather the indwelling of the Holy Spirit distinguished the believer from the non-believer. A Christian could not be a Christian without the Holy Spirit. From their viewpoint those who distinguish between charismatic Christians and non-charismatic Christians are creating a false dichotomy.

Part of the problem is the phrase, “calling us to love our neighbor and change the world.” “Change the world” is a logical inference, not a Scriptural teaching. It is open to a variety of interpretations. Is the Holy Spirit calling us to political and social action? Is that not what the liberals in the Episcopal Church teach? This description of the work of Holy Spirit makes no mention of the work of the Holy Spirit in regenerating and sanctifying God’s elect, which has a prominent place in the theology of authentic historic Anglicanism. It is therefore deficient.

The final section, “What We Do Together,” claims, “The Anglican Church in North America provides a united voice for Anglicans in the United States and Canada…” This claim is patently untrue. A number of groups of Anglicans in the United Sates and Canada are not a part of the Anglican Church in North America. The ACNA speaks for only one segment of the North American Anglican community.

Nowhere in the Bible is equivocating or paltering with the truth countenanced. The Holy Spirit, our Lord taught the apostles, is the spirit of truth, not a spirit of deceit and falsehood. The devil, on the other hand, he described as a liar and a father of liars. It is clearly wrong for the Anglican Church in North America to publish a brochure filled with inaccurate and misleading statements and then encourage ACNA congregations to reproduce it and disseminate it. What ACNA congregations need is not a brochure produced by ACNA denominational headquarters but help producing their own brochures tailored to their own circumstances. This is the kind of support and assistance that the denomination should be providing its congregations.