| |
MANIFESTO FOR A NEW ANGLICAN
REFORMATION
TO
ALL CHRISTIAN PEOPLE:
TO
ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS COME, GREETINGS IN THE NAME OF GOD, OUR
FATHER, OF HIS CRUCIFIED AND RISEN SON, AND OF THE HOLY AND LIFE-GIVING
SPIRIT. AMEN.
We
the undersigned scholars who are members and friends of the Parish
Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, PA, find ourselves at the
epicenter of a crisis that is spreading to the worldwide Anglican
Communion. Heresy, narrow, sinuous, and toxic, is gaining at the expense
of the rich, deep, salvific stream of Christian orthodoxy. There is no
basis in reason or experience to support this process of displacement;
it is occurring under the influence of nothing more than fashions within
Western culture. Some of our leaders, although accredited as God's
Shepherds and successors to the Apostles, are willfully leading this
progression. In an age in which heresy is popularly seen as fresh and
exciting and orthodoxy regarded as dull and worn-out, we believe with
the Church Universal that "heresy is largely a matter of the will
and orthodoxy is not correct logic but a mending of the
heart".1
Although
Good Shepherd's Rector and parish church are under attack by a Bishop
who espouses a vicious revisionism, we do not view the present crisis,
however it affects our lives, as a disaster. Forcing deep issues to the
surface and into the light, the crisis will be, we pray, the first step
towards a revitalizing victory for Christian orthodoxy. It may provide
the incentive for genuine reform, enabling the Anglican Communion for
the first time in its history fully to realize the aspirations of its
sixteenth- and seventeenth-century leaders. Such a victory for orthodox
Truth would render Anglicanism's gifts available to a divided,
suffering, and persecuted Christendom. Accordingly, we pray and call for
a "mending of the heart" among those in our midst who are
proceeding against us, that Grace abounding may settle upon them and
upon all.
What
is unfolding in Rosemont is far-reaching, with consequences for the
whole Christian world. The heresy among us not only threatens the
integrity of Anglicanism but has undermined the Anglican contribution to
worldwide ecumenical dialog. Apart from universal repentance, there is
no way to deal effectively with heresy in the life of the Church or to
accomplish reunion of her sundered fragments. This Manifesto is a call
to repentance2, and to reform and renewal within Anglicanism
with increased accountability on the part of Anglicans to the rest of
the Christian world.
To
Bishop Charles Bennison of Pennsylvania, his Standing Committee, and all
revisionists in the worldwide Anglican Communion:
Bishop
Bennison, you have inhibited and attempted to depose the Rector of the
Church of the Good Shepherd, David Moyer, from the exercise of his
priestly ministry. You thus continue to act in response to events
initiated by your public denial and failure to affirm on request the
authority of Scripture and the uniqueness, Lordship and bodily
Resurrection of Christ. It is required of you as a successor to the
Apostles and by your own consecration vows to uphold these doctrines.
Your actions reflect what is now often known as revisionism. They place
you under anathema: St. Paul's anathema esto (Gal. 1:8). (Anathema is
not a curse uttered in hatred, or vengefully, but the toughest form of
"tough love" with the intent of turning false teachers towards
salvation and of protecting the faithful.) Attempting to revise
tradition, you have also pressed upon us the issues of ordaining active
homosexuals and blessing same-sex marriages.
In
rejecting your authority because of your heterodox doctrines, David
Moyer appeals to the eternal faith of the Church as expressed in the
formularies of Anglicanism. In contrast, your injustice toward David
Moyer has neither a legal nor a theological foundation. That which in
large part undergirds contemporary revisionism, the movement for
demythologization of Scripture, has provided scholars with some useful
tools; but it has run its course and failed. Logically it is a circular
argument, for it assumes that a scientific world-view precludes a belief
in miracles, to establish the incredibility of Scripture's testimony to
their occurrence. Contrary to the claims of those who attempt
demythologization, science cannot legitimately be used to demonstrate
the impossibility of miracles. By their nature,
miracles
are outside the scope of science, which confines itself to repeatable or
repeatedly observable events within the material world. Therefore,
Bishop Bennison, your demythologist denial of the bodily Resurrection
and the Lordship of Christ is fundamentally flawed and will pass away,
as other fashions in the intellectual world have passed away.
You,
a false teacher, urge us to accept your authority on the basis of Unity
over Truth. But we cannot accept the pastoral care of a Bishop who will
not affirm Christ's unique Lordship and bodily Resurrection. Our
acceptance would be contrary to Scripture and would violate Patristic
precedent and canon law as expressed by the first four General Councils,
to which we Anglicans are unambiguously bound. Accordingly, we now call
on you, Charles Bennison, on your Standing Committee, and on any Bishops
in the Anglican Communion who are fostering innovations in faith and
practice, to desist immediately. Cease your persecution of priests,
people, and parishes who, intending to remain faithful to what the
Church has always taught, resist such innovations. Your persecution is
theologically ungrounded and
profoundly
unjust.
To
all Anglican Bishops, Clergy, and People:
Among
the complex causes of the crisis presently unfolding at the Church of
the Good Shepherd and elsewhere is the historic Anglican insistence on
placing Unity above Truth. To value Unity over Truth, within recognized
but wide boundaries, was the policy of Queen Elizabeth I. This policy
doubtless saved the English Church and nation from disintegration, thus
influencing decisively the course of world history. But the Elizabethan
Settlement is now dead. Anglicanism is a global Communion, in a very
different position from that of the Ecclesia Anglicana in the sixteenth
to nineteenth centuries.
The
earlier Anglican appeal to the Fathers now compels us to a shift toward
fundamentals. As with the Undivided Church, the Fathers and Gospel alike
require that we value Truth over Unity. Unity is important, indeed
blessed (cf. Ps. 133). But St. Paul gives Truth much higher priority as
when he says, "But even if we ourselves or an angel from heaven
preaches to you a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let
God's curse be on him (anathema esto)" (Gal. 1:8, NJB). That Gospel
is the kerygma of the bodily Resurrection of Jesus the Lord, with all
that it implies for salvation of the human race and the transfiguration
of the cosmos.
We
therefore call for a New Anglican Reformation. Let us return the
Anglican Communion to its foundation on Scripture, interpreted by
Tradition and Reason. Leaving behind us the moribund controversies of
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and doctrinal innovations that
have been urged upon us in recent times, let us establish the Anglican
Communion, for the first time, in full fidelity to the Gospel which
values Him Who is the Truth (John 14:6) even more highly than it does
Unity.3
However,
there is before us a difficult issue, that of the ordination of women to
the priesthood and episcopate. We recognize that according to current
Anglican polity, the practice of ordaining women to priesthood and
episcopate is in an unfinished process of reception, the outcome of
which is uncertain. We call upon all provinces of the Anglican Communion
to recognize that status and to consider theologically whether such
ordination is or is not meant by the Holy Spirit as a gift for the whole
church. In an unfolding process, the consciences of those presently
opposing the practice of women's ordination to these orders must be
protected with the deepest and most charitable respect.
To
All Christian People:
Events
beginning in 1976 with the said ordination of women to the priesthood
and episcopate have troubled many Anglicans. They have also removed the
Anglican Communion from its earlier status as a serious partner in
ecumenical exchange, especially with the Churches of Rome and the East.
We Anglicans have increasingly been perceived, often with reason, as
partners in dialog who do not say what we mean and mean what we say.
Instead, Anglicans have undertaken unilateral actions such as advocating
or preparing to authorize rites for the blessing of same-sex unions, and
have denied fundamentals of Christian faith including the uniqueness and
Lordship of Christ, His bodily Resurrection, and the divine inspiration
of Scripture. Small wonder that Christians are confused and misled when
prominent Anglicans openly state that the Resurrection is only the
disciples' subjective or interior religious experience and the Bible
merely a human product. Those who make such statements have disturbed
Christians and have jeopardized, if not de
facto
terminated, formerly fruitful ecumenical conversations. Yet a far larger
number of Anglicans, including ourselves, have passively failed or been
slow to identify, expose and oppose these attacks on Christianity.
Accordingly, we now call for a Church-wide act of repentance, beginning
with our own:
For
taking or failing to oppose irresponsible and ecumenically unilateral
actions and positions: we the undersigned do hereby humbly acknowledge
our active or passive share of corporate responsibility, and do, before
God, publicly repent, asking for ourselves and all Anglicans the prayers
and forgiveness of the Christian world.
For
the grievous part the Anglican Church has played in causing and
strengthening divisions in the Christian world since their beginnings:
we the undersigned do hereby humbly acknowledge our share of corporate
responsibility, and do, before God, publicly repent, asking for us and
all Anglicans the prayers and forgiveness of the Christian world.
We
call on all Christians, of all faith traditions, to join us in this act
of repentance for everything in our past histories that has contributed
to disunity.
In
the present parlous state of the world and the Church, let Christian
faith communities cease their claims of exclusivity. Instead may we
concentrate our efforts towards listening, in dialog, to each other, and
to supporting prayerfully those who are involved in defense of orthodox
Faith. Let us bring a spirit of renewal to serious ecumenical exchange
with the stated objective of restoring full Christian unity. In the
unfolding restoration of that unity, we Anglicans have much that is
unique to present as gifts to all Christians. We are in an especially
privileged position to recognize, call forth, and welcome the gifts of
all other Christian faith communities because we hold that the bounds of
orthodoxy are sufficiently wide to allow a considerable range of beliefs
on non-essential issues. This presupposition may be our principal
contribution to ecumenism. At the same time, the Church as bearer of a
sacred and saving Revelation must insist upon fidelity "in the
Lord" (Phil. 4:2) to that Revelation.
Finally,
let questions concerning human sexuality be considered with due regard
to Christian Tradition and Scripture. Let the vexed question of
ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate be regarded by all
as a legitimate quaestio disputata. Theologians of all traditions may
then address such issues with a view to an ecumenical settlement or at
least the attainment of a modus vivendi within which, for whatever time
shall be necessary before full settlement, all Christians may live
together in mutual respect and ultimately in communion.
"In
essentials Unity, in non-essentials Liberty, and in all things
Charity."4
FOOTNOTES
1.
C. FitzSimons Allison, The Cruelty of Heresy: An Affirmation of
Christian Orthodoxy, Morehouse Publishing, Harrisburg, PA, 1994; p. 34.
Quotes in the original have been deleted.
2.
Cf. N. Zernov, The Reintegration of the Church, SCM Press, 1952; p. 44:
"The healing of schisms must begin with severe self-examination;
only when the members of each confession accept their guilt in the
disruption of Christian fellowship will the reintegration of the Church
become a practical task instead of remaining an unattainable
ideal." Since this was written, fifty years of the so-called
Ecumenical
Movement
have only served to vindicate Zernov's prophetic insistence on the
need
for repentance.
3.
Perhaps what we are calling for should be termed a "New
Counter-Reformation"; see Philip Jenkins, "The Next
Christianity," The Atlantic Monthly, October 2002; pp. 53 - 68.
4.
Source disputed.
*Stevens
Heckscher, Obl. OSB, Ph.D.*
*Vincent
O. Eareckson, Ph.D.
William
J. Gatens, D.Phil. (Oxon.)
*Nancy
Bancroft, Ph.D.
Nasser
Lajevardi, C.P.C., Ph.D.
Fr.
Allen Guelzo, Ph.D.
___________________________________________________________
*Indicates
a drafter of the Manifesto
Correspondence
concerning the Manifesto may be sent via e-mail to:
or
via postal mail to:
Stevens
Heckscher
Church
of the Good Shepherd
1116
East Lancaster Avenue
Rosemont,
PA 19010
USA
Manifesto
available as Adobe Acrobat file: manifesto.pdf
|
|
