By Robin G. Jordan
Another Global South province has recognized the Anglican Church in North America. What is the basis
of that recognition? Is it the ACNA’s full acceptance of the Bible as the
Church’s rule of faith and life? Is it the ACNA’s adherence to the principles
of doctrine and worship laid out in the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1571 and the
Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal of 1662? According to ACNA publicist Andrew Gross, it is the ACNA’s support
of a traditional view of marriage and human sexuality. The ACNA’s moral stance,
not its theological stance, has become the principal factor behind recognition
of the jurisdiction as “Anglican.” As long as it opposes the normalization of homosexuality,
GAFCON and Global South Primates appear to be willing to overlook its
deviations from authentic historic Anglicanism.
Despite the protestations that the division between GAFCON
and Global South and the Anglican Communion’s liberal wing is about more than human
sexuality, the actions of the GAFCON and Global South Primates say otherwise.
They are too willing to brush aside concerns about the ACNA’s very weak
commitment to biblical Anglicanism. A traditional view of marriage and human
sexuality is not by any stretch of the imagination the extent of biblical Anglicanism.
It is a serious mistake to rely upon a traditional view of marriage and human
sexuality as the sole litmus test of biblical Anglican orthodoxy. (I am not suggesting that it should not be a part of a litmus test of biblical Anglican orthodoxy but that it should not be the only litmus test of such orthodoxy. )
While some readers may view as “over the top” my urging of Confessing Anglicans in the Anglican
Church in North America to start a Prayer Book rebellion, it is a logical and
reasonable step for them to take in the light of the absence of a policy of
genuine comprehensiveness in the ACNA. What is happening in the ACNA has
happened in the past in a number of jurisdictions that claim to be Anglican in
their heritage and origin. One school of thought has established hegemony in
the jurisdiction and imposed its teaching and practices upon the jurisdiction,
typically at the expense of biblical Anglicanism.
In the Episcopal Church in the USA it is a school of thought
that holds increasingly radical liberal theological and moral views. Before its
ascendancy Anglo-Catholicism was a dominant ecclesiastical tradition in that
jurisdiction, having risen to that position in the mid and late nineteenth
century. This period is marked by growing tension between Anglo-Catholics and
Evangelicals in the Episcopal Church.
General Convention which was dominated by Anglo-Catholics
and other Episcopalians sympathetic to Tractarian principles would adopt a
number of measures targeting Evangelical Episcopalians. Episcopal clergy were
prohibited from fraternizing with the clergy of churches that did not have
bishops, attending their gatherings, receiving communion in their churches, and
exchanging pulpits with them. It would reject Evangelical proposals to revise
the 1789 Book of Common Prayer to make it more comprehensive. These proposals
called for the authorization of alternative language in the Baptismal rite or
an alternative Baptismal rite. While they were consistent with the principle of
comprehension embodied in the 1789 Prayer Book, General Convention adamantly
refused to consider the proposals. While there was a attempt at compromise in
the House of Bishops, it came as too little, too late. Conservative
Evangelicals seceded from the Episcopal Church over what they had come to view
as the incipient Roman Catholic doctrine of the 1789 Prayer Book, a view
reinforced by the Anglo-Catholic interpretation of the book.
Douglas Bess has documented in his book, Divided We Stand: A History of the Continuing Anglican Movement, the
struggle between “Anglican Loyalists” and “Catholic Revivalists” for hegemony
in that movement in the 1970s and 1980s. The “Catholic Revivalists” would be
victorious. It has proven a hollow victory. Under their leadership North
America’s several Continuing Anglican jurisdictions have not prospered.
Catholic Revivalists have shown themselves to be incapable at leading their
respective jurisdictions in the critical areas of evangelism and church
planting. Having embraced the Roman Catholic sacramental system, they have
embraced a false gospel, a gospel lacking in power to transform lives like the
true gospel.
The ACNA Catechism and the proposed ACNA Prayer Book form
the centerpiece of the Catholic Revivalist effort to transform the Anglican
Church in North America into an ecclesial body that is exclusively unreformed
Catholic in its thinking and practice. They would take the place of the
Anglican formularies as the standard of doctrine and worship in the Anglican
Church in North America. They would establish the doctrinal and liturgical
norms to which clergy and congregations in the ACNA would be expected to conform.
The extent of the involvement of the College of Bishops in their development
and its enthusiastic endorsement of the two formularies show that it is not
committed to the restoration of the Bible and the gospel to the heart of the
Anglican Communion. The College of Bishops’ rejection of the historic Anglican
formularies constitutes a rejection of the authority of the Bible from which
the formularies derive their authority. It is also a rejection of the New Testament
gospel.
Under such circumstances the rejection of the ACNA Catechism
and the proposed ACNA Prayer Book is a declaration of allegiance to the Bible
and the Anglican formularies and ultimately to the gospel. It is what being a
Confessing Anglican is all about. It goes beyond saying that one is for the
Bible, the Anglican formularies, and the gospel. It entails showing what one
stands for—by actions commensurate with one’s convictions.
The time has also come to promote the adoption of an amendment
to the ACNA constitution extending official standing to the Biblical and
Reformation beliefs and convictions of Confessing Anglicans and establishing important
safeguards for their theological identity.
Article XVI: An Ecclesistical Bill of Rights
1. (1) No member of the clergy, other gospel worker, congregation,
or mission shall be required to use a catechism or office of instruction that
does not conform in its teaching to the principles of doctrine and worship laid
out in the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1571 and the Book of Common Prayer and the
Ordinal of 1662.
(2) Clergy, other gospel workers, congregations, missions, and
groupings of congregations shall be free to develop, publish, and use catechisms
or offices of instruction of their own; provided that such catechism or offices
of instruction conform in their teaching to the principles of doctrine and
worship laid out in the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1571 and the Book of Common
Prayer and the Ordinal of 1662.
(3) As used in this Article the term “gospel worker” refers
to licensed catechists, evangelists, lay readers, pastoral assistants, and
youth workers.
2. (1) No member of the clergy, other gospel worker, congregation,
or mission shall be required to use forms of services that do not conform in
their teaching and practices to the principles of doctrine and worship laid out
in the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1571 and the Book of Common Prayer and the
Ordinal of 1662.
(2) Clergy, other gospel workers, congregations, missions, and
groupings of congregations shall be free to develop, publish, and use forms of
services of their own; provided that such forms of service conforms in their
teaching and practices to the principles of doctrine and worship laid out in the
Thirty-Nine Articles of 1571 and the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal of
1662.
3. (1) Clergy, other gospel workers, congregations, missions,
and groupings of congregations shall be free to teach and propagate the
longstanding Anglican doctrines that that the episcopate is an office, not an
order; that while bishops may benefit the well-being of the Church, they are
not absolutely essential to its existence; and that apostolic succession is a
succession of doctrine, not a succession of bishops.
(2) No member of the clergy, other gospel worker,
congregation, mission, or grouping of congregations, shall be required to teach
and propagate any doctrine that conflicts with these doctrines.
(2) No bishop-elect shall be denied confirmation of his
election on the basis of his full acceptance of the Bible as the Church’s rule
of faith and life; his adherence to the principles of doctrine and worship laid
out in the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1571 and the Book of Common Prayer and the
Ordinal of 1662; and/or his subscription to the longstanding Anglican doctrines
that that the episcopate is an office, not an order, that while bishops may
benefit the well-being of the Church, they are not absolutely essential to its
existence, and that apostolic succession is a succession of doctrine, not a
succession of bishops.
6. (1) Clergy, other gospel workers, congregations,
missions, and groupings of congregations shall be free to form voluntary associations
for the purposes of advancing the gospel, defending and promoting the principles
of doctrine and worship laid out in the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1571 and the
Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal of 1662, and perpetuating the Reformation
heritage of the Anglican Church, and for such other purposes that they
determine are in their common interest.
(2) Dioceses, dioceses-in-formation, and other groupings of
congregations shall be free to form distinct jurisdictions in the province on
the basis of their full acceptance of the Bible as the Church’s rule of faith
and life; their adherence to the principles of doctrine and worship laid out in
the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1571 and the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal
of 1662; and their subscription to the longstanding Anglican doctrines that that
the episcopate is an office, not an order, that while bishops may benefit the
well-being of the Church, they are not absolutely essential to its existence,
and that apostolic succession is a succession of doctrine, not a succession of
bishops. Such jurisdictions shall be free to establish their own form of
governance and adopt and amend their own constitutions, canons, and regulations.
(3) No group of dioceses, dioceses-in-formation, and other
groupings of congregations organized into a distinct jurisdiction shall be
suspended or removed from membership in the province on the basis of their full
acceptance of the Bible as the Church’s rule of faith and life; their adherence
to the principles of doctrine and worship laid out in the Thirty-Nine Articles
of 1571 and the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal of 1662; and/or their subscription
to the longstanding Anglican doctrines that that the episcopate is an office,
not an order, that while bishops may benefit the well-being of the Church, they
are not absolutely essential to its existence, and that apostolic succession is
a succession of doctrine, not a succession of bishops.
7. Dioceses, dioceses-in-formation, and other groupings of
congregations shall be free to recognize as congregations or missions of such
groupings of congregations communities
and groups of Christian worshipers located outside their geographic boundaries
and to license clergy and other gospel workers resident outside such
boundaries.
8. (1) No candidate for ordination shall be required to undergo
theological training in a seminary or other institution that does not fully
accept the Bible as the Church’s rule of faith and life and which does not genuinely
subscribe to the principles of doctrine and worship laid out in the Thirty-Nine
Articles of 1571 and the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal of 1662.
(2) No candidate for ordination shall be denied ordination
on the basis of his full acceptance of the Bible as the Church’s rule of faith
and life, his adherence to the principles of doctrine and worship laid out in
the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1571 and the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal
of 1662, and/or his subscription to the longstanding Anglican doctrines that that
the episcopate is an office, not an order, that while bishops may benefit the
well-being of the Church, they are not absolutely essential to its existence,
and that apostolic succession is a succession of doctrine, not a succession of
bishops.
9. No member of the clergy or other gospel worker shall be
denied licensure or have his license suspended or revoked on the basis of his full
acceptance of the Bible as the Church’s rule of faith and life, his adherence
to the principles of doctrine and worship laid out in the Thirty-Nine Articles
of 1571 and the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal of 1662, and/or his subscription
to the longstanding Anglican doctrines that that the episcopate is an office,
not an order, that while bishops may benefit the well-being of the Church, they
are not absolutely essential to its existence, and that apostolic succession is
a succession of doctrine, not a succession of bishops.
10. No congregation or mission shall be required to accept
the appointment of a member of clergy or any other gospel worker who does not fully
accept the Bible as the Church’s rule of faith and life, who does not genuinely
subscribe to the principles of doctrine and worship laid out in the Thirty-Nine
Articles of 1571 and the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal of 1662, and/or
who does not agree with the longstanding Anglican doctrines that that the
episcopate is an office, not an order, that while bishops may benefit the
well-being of the Church, they are not absolutely essential to its existence,
and that apostolic succession is a succession of doctrine, not a succession of
bishops.
11. (1) No applicant for recognition as a diocese or
diocese-in-formation or some other
grouping of congregations shall be denied such recognition on the basis of its full
acceptance of the Bible as the Church’s rule of faith and life, its adherence
to the principles of doctrine and worship laid out in the Thirty-Nine Articles
of 1571 and the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal of 1662, and/or its subscription
to the longstanding Anglican doctrines that that the episcopate is an office,
not an order; that while bishops may benefit the well-being of the Church, they
are not absolutely essential to its existence; and that apostolic succession is
a succession of doctrine, not a succession of bishops.
(2) No diocese, diocese-information, or other grouping of
congregations may be suspended or removed from membership in the province on
the basis of its full acceptance of the Bible as the Church’s rule of faith and
life, its adherence to the principles of doctrine and worship laid out in the
Thirty-Nine Articles of 1571 and the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal of
1662, and/or its subscription to the longstanding Anglican doctrines that that
the episcopate is an office, not an order; that while bishops may benefit the
well-being of the Church, they are not absolutely essential to its existence; and that apostolic succession is a succession of doctrine, not a succession of
bishops.
12. (1) No community or group of Christian worshipers shall
be denied affiliation with a diocese, diocese-in-formation, or other group of
congregations as a congregation or mission on the basis of its full acceptance
of the Bible as the Church’s rule of faith and life, its adherence to the
principles of doctrine and worship laid out in the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1571
and the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal of 1662, and/or its subscription
to the longstanding Anglican doctrines that that the episcopate is an office,
not an order; that while bishops may benefit the well-being of the Church, they
are not absolutely essential to its existence; and that apostolic succession is
a succession of doctrine, not a succession of bishops.
(2) The affiliation of a congregation or mission with a
diocese, diocese-in-formation, or other group of congregations shall not be
suspended or revoked on the basis of its full acceptance of the Bible as the
Church’s rule of faith and life, its adherence to the principles of doctrine
and worship laid out in the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1571 and the Book of Common
Prayer and the Ordinal of 1662, and/or its subscription to the longstanding
Anglican doctrines that that the episcopate is an office, not an order; that while
bishops may benefit the well-being of the Church, they are not absolutely
essential to its existence; and that apostolic succession is a succession of
doctrine, not a succession of bishops.
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