Ed Beaven: Archbishop’s letter divides opinion

Posted by Kendall Harmon

A letter sent by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s describing his views over the ecclesiology of the Anglican Communion has provoked mixed reactions on both sides of the debate.

In the letter to the Rt Rev John W Howe, Bishop of Central Florida, (pictured) the Most Rev Rowan Williams said that the diocese, rather than the national church or the province, is the primary ecclesial entity within the Anglican Communion.

This view has angered many liberals in the United States who feel this undermines the position of The Episcopal Church. But observers are divided over the possible implications of the letter. In the meantime Lambeth Palace has issued a clarification stressing that the letter’s contents are simply restating the conventional understanding of ecclesiology and that it is not to be viewed as an ‘ex cathedra’ utterance.

The Rev Richard Jenkins, Director of the Affirming Catholicism group within the Church of England, said the Archbishop had articulated a ‘very authentic Catholic theology of the Church which places the centre of mission at the level of the diocese’.

“The diocese is the local church, it’s the ancient model and what the Church of England inherited and it’s what he’s trying to maintain, it’s not anything new.”

Read it all.




Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • * Theology • Ecclesiology

4 Comments
Posted October 26, 2007 at 5:47 pm [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. Virgil in Tacoma wrote:

I was thinking of an odd inference one might draw from the ABC’s letter: If the power and authority resides equally in the individual bishops (and not in the primates of the national churches), then the primates’ meetings could only be viewed as advisory. The next meeting that has any potential punch is Lambeth 2008 where they all have a vote. Also, since the ABC is only ‘one among equals’, he couldn’t restrict anyone of the bishops ordained by other Anglican bishops from attending Lambeth (ah Minns and Robinson at the same meeting). Lambeth would have to decide who would be ‘in’ or ‘out’ (excommunicated) from the communion.

All conjecture and faulty, but interesting nonetheless.

October 26, 6:29 pm | [comment link]
2. TonyinCNY wrote:

Virgil, as we have seen pecusa can ignore Lambeth as well as any other body.  pecusa has a view of autonomy that is at odds with Christian beliefs, but then pecusa has a number of views that are at odds with Christian beliefs.  They are protestant sectarians who don’t care what the church catholic believes.

October 26, 9:40 pm | [comment link]
3. AnglicanFirst wrote:

TonyinCNY said
“They are protestant sectarians who don’t care what the church catholic believes.”

Tony, I don’t think that many of the progressive-revisionists are even “protestant.”

If being “protestant” means still means believing that Christ died, Christ rose from the dead and that Christ will come again and that Christ is the only way to Salvation, then many progressive-revisionists are much more unitarian-universalist than they are “protestant.”

If they want to persist in their beliefs and/or their distortions of Chrisitianity then they do so at the risk of their own souls.  But they really should stop pretending that they are “protestant” and especially stop presuming that they are a bona fide members of the Church Catholic.  Because they are not, as evidenced by their own doctrinal admissions and by their own personal choices.

The progressive-revisionists of ECUSA should, in all honesty, stop their charade.

October 27, 9:00 am | [comment link]
4. vulcanhammer wrote:

If we’re going to open a debate on the subject of what constitutes the basic “unit” of the church, it wouldn’t hurt to consider St. Jerome’s opinion of the subject.

October 27, 1:27 pm | [comment link]
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