As I emerged out of Southern Baptist evangelicalism in 1980–81 John Stott and J. I. Packer were two of the most influential writers in my journey out of Baptist evangelicalism. Hitherto my theological staples had been things on the order of Navigators Bible study materials and Rosalind Rinker’s book on hearing voices from God. I am not entirely sure how I found Stott’s Basic Christianity and Packer’s Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God. Back then we had a Christian bookstore downtown, where I mostly bought contemporary Christian records (e.g., Larry Norman and Barry McGuire). Perhaps the manager directed me to them? Those books were a Godsend. They were thoughtful, intelligent, gracious and thoroughly evangelical in the best sense of the word. They were gospel books. They pointed me away from myself and my experience and toward Christ. In the summer of 1981 Packer’s Knowing God was a major influence in my embrace of Reformed theology, piety, and practice....
As a young college professor at Wheaton, struggling to keep up with my course load, a young family, and to finish my DPhil thesis, I turned again to the (1662) Book of Common Prayer, which I had picked up in the UK, mainly out of historical curiosity and found it to be a valuable resource for opening classes in prayer. It was a wonderful alternative to vain repetition in prayer. There I found, in the confession of sin and in the prayer for illumination (in the second Sunday in Advent), a marvel of liturgical writing.
From P. E. Hughes and others I learned to appreciate the Reformation-era Anglicans, whose works I have continued to appreciate throughout my adult Christian life. I have written in appreciation of the Oxford Martyrs, Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley. William Perkins (1558–1602) and Richard Sibbes (1577–1635) are just two of the great conforming Reformed Anglican theologians and pastors who have influenced my own theology, piety, and practice. Sibbes was a model of gracious gospel ministry and Perkins a brilliant exponent of the heart of the Reformation, salvation sola gratia, sola fide, whose theology, piety, and practice inspired many, including the Congregationalist William Ames (1576–1633), who would become one of the fathers of the Dutch Second Reformation.
I say all this to illustrate just some of the reasons why I appreciate historic Anglicanism and why I appreciate those modern evangelical Anglicans who have helped to keep alive that tradition. This is worth bearing in mind since my purpose in writing is to evaluate a new catechism produced by a relatively new Anglican communion, the Anglican Church in North America, the ACNA, but I want to assure the reader that though I am unreservedly presbyterial (note the lower case p) in my polity and Reformed in my confession I have a soft spot in my heart for evangelical Anglicanism. Read More
Based upon the comment thread, I gather that this article was posted earlier this year in March. I ran across it while I was searching for James Packer's Churchman article, "The Revised Catechism." I am posting links to Packer's earlier articles to give readers a taste of Packer before Evangelicals and Catholics Together and the Anglican Church in North America. I do not know how much Evangelicals and Catholics Together would influence Packer's thinking and whether it played a role in his apparent reluctance to criticize the ACNA's muddled theological thinking that glossed over significant differences between Protestant Reformed evangelicalism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Roman Catholicism and strayed far from Anglicanism's central theological tradition and historic formularies to which Packer was committed in his early career. Having migrated to the Anglican Network in Canada after he took a principled stand and left the Anglican Church of Canada, Packer may be been insulated from the drift away from historic Anglicanism south of the border. Dogged by failing eye sight and ill health, Packer may have not played as an active a role in the preparation of two ACNA formularies which are now linked with his name, not only by ACNA leaders but also book publishers. They are To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism and The Book of Common Prayer (2019). Neither ACNA formulary embodies the central Anglican theological tradition and the historic Anglican formularies to which he was devoted for the better part of his life. Indeed the two ACNA formularies represent a major departure from doctrinal and worship principles of authentic historic Anglicanism.
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