Monday, February 12, 2007


A very interesting profile of Nigeria's Archbishop in TIME Magazine this week. Entitled "The Blunt Bishop" I found what it had to say about Anglicanism as interesting as what it had to say about Akinola:


Anglicanism's great achievement--and one of the reasons people outside the communion may care about its fate--is that since its 16th century origins as a kind of Roman Catholic and Protestant amalgam, it has often seemed like a mini-experiment in what a global Christian church might look like: one that managed to span the distance between incense-saturated Catholic-style rite and tongues-talking low-church Protestantism, that eschewed hyperdetailed doctrinal tests to maintain a looser Christian understanding, adjusted at regular meetings under the low-voltage, first- among-equals leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury.


One of the reasons Akinola is both controversial and potentially important is that as the gay issue stretches this understanding past the pain threshold, he is a man unafraid to cut the cord--an uncompromising evangelizer of a sort, more familiar to Americans than to many Anglicans, who is willing to abandon communal solidarity unless it supports a "right" reading of Scripture.


Interesting that Time has a better handle on classical Anglicanism than Titusonenine does!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know that Time has a handle on Anglicanism true inner virtue as much as it likes its own, or the public's, caricature of the other options. R Catholicism is reduced to being incense-saturated and Protestantism is equated with the barest (low-church) and most fringe (tongue-speaking) groups as if the RC life had nothing more to offer than smells and bells and, say, there is not a wide swath of inhabitable, and enjoyable, versions of the faith throughout history in many, many Protestant denominations. So, I say No, at least to the part of TIME you quoted, this magazine has little grasp of Anglicanism.

I would also add that those who think Anglicanism's greatness is the compromise or comprehensiveness mentioned might also want to consider other features of Anglicanism: it's ordering of our praise, it's insistence on the Bible and the prayer desk, and it's emphasis on Word and Sacrament (ideally). Last, they might also ponder Newmann's admoniton not to walk around proclaiming with pride the 'genius of Anglicanism' .

As for the criticism of titusonenine, I don't see how this relates, unless you are saying they make all the mistakes that TIME alleges of Akinola. JOHN 2007

Pfalz prophet said...

Anon, you missed a phrase: "one that managed to span the distance between" incense-saturation and speaking in tongues. With that phrase, TIME included the "wide swath" of faith that you allege it missed, and your claim is invalid.

I would have hoped for an assessment of Hooker's three-legged stool, but I'm satisfied that TIME did just fine in encapsulating our situation today.

As for titus 1:9, I stopped visiting that site. Ad hominem attacks on anything or anyone Pisky is all I seemed to find there, and who needs that kind of negativism in a world where the work of the HS is so evident all around us.

Anonymous said...

pfalz prophet,

I guess it is my turn to post the $100 reward for anyone who can find "Hooker's three-legged stool" in any of Hooker's writings.

I'll pay out to your favorite charity.

David Bailey
revdbb@aol.com

Anonymous said...

Amen, David Bailey. Also as they look let's see if they notice the primacy of Scripture in Hooker, too.

Pfalz prophet said...

You are correct, David+, it was a Mixed Metaphor Monday for me, I'm afraid. Ahh, the risks a layman takes treading on the sacred soil of academia. Your charitable giving plan can remain intact, LOL!

"Attributed to the 16th century English writer, Richard Hooker, the “Three-Legged Stool” has become the essential feature of a distinct 'Anglican Ethos.'" Quoted here, and acknowledges that Hooker never used the term, nor even saw scripture, reason and tradition as equals.

Nevertheless, the three-legged concept originated with Richard Hooker, even though someone else concocted the stool metaphor. VA Bp-elect Shannon Johnston+ stated in his questionnaire responses, "The 'three-legged stool' of Scripture-Tradition-Reason is the essential dynamic for the Church’s theological discernment."