Category Image Divided They Stand, For a Time


A number of years ago, a book was published detailing the history of the continuing Anglican movement here in the U.S. called Divided We Stand . Its a good book, although I'm a bit challenged to recommend it. If you're Anglican, it will depress you, if you're anything else, you risk getting puffed up by it. The book is basically a survey of the history of the various breakaway groups who, for various reasons, could no longer stand to be part of the Episcopal Church. A friend of mine is entering the world of these breakaways, as are other friends, as they seek new Church homes. It goes without saying that looking within the ECUSA is largely a fruitless exercise. I'm indebted to this friend (can I refer to you by name in my blog?) for this link to the Time article in 1966 about former Bishop Pike, heresiarch of the Episcopal Church (I've linked to the cover, but definitely read the cover story ). This was the warning siren for the disaster that was about to befall the ECUSA.

So this friend visited St. Lukes in Los Altos, looking for a new Church home for his family. He described it as frozen in time - which to this Orthodox, seems like a good thing. In many ways, it embodies the Episcopal Church of the early 1900's. This might seem like a good thing, as ideas such as adherence to Scripture and Tradition would be what comes with that. However, the tradition is, at best, the tradition of the English Reformation , so I would disagree with that. However, there are a few other details which point to the schizophrenia which the Via Media, so lauded by the Anglican Church, has led to. Most notable is that they do the old Reformed Communion one Sunday a month at the 10 a.m. service, then switch to weekly, which is more AngloCatholic at the 12 a.m. service. This tension wouldn't be so noticeable if it weren't for the fact that this church belongs to the APA , which has entered into an intercommunion agreement with the REC . This would be all well and good, except for this group, which has discovered that within the APA closet are a number of very AngloCatholic folks.

Now, this anti-union group are absolutely correct, if you ask me, to question the conflict in rather significant doctrinal matters between AngloCatholics and Reformed folks. The answer within Anglicanism has largely been, not to ask, nor to bother about such things. I found this site, which is for some other continuing Church where the claim that "We do not compromise on matters of Faith, Order, Doctrine, Discipline, or Morality", while declaring that "The core statements of the Faith contained in the Creeds -- Apostle's, Nicene, and Athanasian -- are necessary to belief for Christians, but in peripheral issues we are not to judge one another (as St. Paul said)." So, given that morality is not expressed in any of the creeds, what does that mean? The problem with creeds is that they tend to be reactionary - addressing particular heresies - and not comprehensive. In Orthodoxy, we refer to the Nicene Creed as the symbol of faith. While we adhere to all of its statements, we also understand that the faith is deeper than just the creed itself.

Now, to be fair, one thing that all of these groups have in common, is that they claim the 39 articles as their statement of faith. The difficulty with this, as addressed here , is that these articles have been routinely interpreted in many different ways over the years, from Catholic to Reformed, and many places in between. This is the very definition of Via Media. While oft proclaimed to be the strength of Anglicanism, it is, in fact, its very weakness. If it is okay to for members of the same Church to hold absolutely contradictory views on such things as the nature of the Eucharist, and Sacraments in general, on which book belong in Scripture, on how many Sacraments there are, on Salvation (Sola Fide or not?), on how doctrine is established (Sola Scriptura or not?), why is it not okay to question such things as the Incarnation, and the Virgin Birth. Okay, these two items are addressed in the creed, but as noted before, morality really isn't. Why is homosexuality such a bad thing? Why are women priests not okay? Why is it necessary to believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation? There is nothing within the realm of the 39 articles, nor Via Media, which really helps us with these questions.

Edit: I must add, that it was this sort of thing which led to my departure from the Anglican Church, in general. I finally realized that is was me that wasn't a good Anglican, not that the ECUSA or my parish were not being good Anglicans.

Posted: Sunday - February 04, 2007 at 11:04 PM          

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