Theologians Call for Deeper Examination of Anglicanism in Light of Globalization
Episcopal News Service. February 18, 2000 [2000-038]
Kenneth Arnold, Editor of Crosscurrents, an interreligious, interdisciplinary quarterly published by the Association for Religion and Intellectual Life
Responding to the need to get serious about the implications of globalization within the Anglican Communion, nearly 100 scholars gathered in New York February 10 and 11 to discuss "Tradition and Innovation in Anglicanism: Hermeneutics in a Global Communion." Sponsored by the Fellows Forum of the Episcopal Church Foundation, the conference was intended to promote "reasoned theological discourse," according to its convenor, the Rev. Dr. Ian Douglas of Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Featuring fellows of the foundation as presenters, respondents, and moderators, the event included informal after-dinner remarks from Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, who spoke of the importance of reasoned conversation, noting that the theological enterprise has a "pastoral dimension."
Against the backdrop of the irregular consecration of two American priests to the episcopate in Singapore on January 29, the papers delivered at the conference were especially timely. A series of four panels examined cultural diversity within Anglicanism from theological, ethical, liturgical, pastoral, biblical, and historical perspectives. Virtually all of the speakers addressed the question of authority and community in a communion now centered in the global South. The Rev. Dr. Titus Presler, rector of St. Peter's Church in Cambridge and a former missionary in Zimbabwe, put it most pointedly in his paper: "The heartland of Christianity is now in Africa."
Articulating the message that dominated the discussions, the Rev. Harold Lewis stated in his homily at the opening Eucharist that "the Anglican Communion is no longer English. The African and Asian provinces bring new perspectives to the table. We need to imagine a church that includes all, in which the new does not obliterate the past but enriches it."
In his after-dinner remarks, Griswold agreed that there is a broadening sense of what it means to be Anglican as the West is being challenged to have a larger theological conversation. It is important, he said, to think theologically as events unfold. "We need to challenge our arrogant ways of looking at things; we need to be able to receive the gifts of others in the global community if they are to receive ours."
Whether considering complex theological questions of contextuality and hermeneutics, biblical interpretation of subversive texts, syncretistic worship in Africa, or the oddities of Prayer Book revision in the church, the speakers agreed that "tradition" is rarely as obvious as it might seem and innovation may lead not "forward" to novelty but back to long-held beliefs. But all seemed to assent to the Rev. Dr. Robert Hughes' closing homily, in which he asserted that everything, even high-level theology, must be for mission. "The purpose of the Fellows Forum is to advance the Kingdom and build the church."
The five major papers delivered during the forum were by The Rev. Dr. Christopher Duraisingh, Episcopal Divinity School; Presler; Dr. Ellen Davis, Virginia Theological Seminary; the Rev. Dr. Cynthia Kittredge, Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest; and the Rev. Dr. J. Robert Wright, General Theological Seminary. Formal responses to the papers were offered by the Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner, Church of the Ascension, Pueblo, Colorado; the Rev. Dr. Leander Harding, St. John's Church, Stamford, Connecticut; and the Rev. Dr. Robert Prichard, Virginia Theological Seminary.
Duraisingh described conditions in which cross-cultural dialogue might take place, an urgent need if the church is to discern and witness to "the multi-colored wisdom of God." The necessary conditions are: the understanding that tradition is not something to be owned but is a process; and that the one universal church is now manifested in and known through the local community.
In his response, Radner cited the danger of confusing language about plurality and diversity with the language of consumer culture. The dispute at the Lambeth Conference in 1998, he said, was not about cultural pluralities but about the perceived integrity of the gospel. The dispute is theological and cannot be resolved as an issue of cultural diversity, he argued.
Speaking of his experiences as a missionary in Zimbabwe, Presler urged that we understand Anglicanism as a world religion which is changed in local experience. He proposed an international assessment of Anglicanism, which he termed "The Barnabas Project," to inform the church about the world as the Zacchaeus Project did about the church in the United States.
The Zacchaeus Project was an in-depth study of Episcopal identity at the congregational level, executed in 1998 and 1999 by the Episcopal Church Foundation as part of its 50th anniversary celebration. It found that Episcopalians are generally satisfied with their congregational life and are aware of but mostly untouched by issues and controversies that preoccupy the church at other levels.
Harding offered in his reply to Presler a distinction between those who believe in a God who wills to be known (in revelation through scripture and tradition) and a hidden God (known in experience) as central to the difficulty in communication between the West and the two-thirds world. The God who is known in revelation is more characteristic of the two-thirds world. In the West, he suggested, experience trumps everything, including reason and revelation.
Turning to scripture, Davis suggested ways of reading scripture that reveal how tradition preserves our mistakes as well as our insights. Living in tradition includes tension. Such critical traditionalism helps us come to terms with embarrassing or offensive texts, she said.
Kittredge said in response that a community's experience of tradition is an essential element in negotiating meaning. There is a significant change now in how we define community as different cultures bring new interpretations to the gospel; previously unheard voices can open the way to transformation from the margins.
In his witty exploration of the relationship between tradition and innovation, Wright argued that there is not a clear boundary between the two. Tradition is never really the enemy of innovation unless one is trying to establish a case in favor of some innovation that must necessarily reject some tradition. Drawing on certain resolutions at Lambeth 1998, he commented on proposed structural solutions to the problem of adjudicating questions in the Communion, focused on extended authority of the primates.
Responding to Wright, Prichard expressed doubt about structural solutions, but affirmed the role history can play in leading us to often surprising discoveries about who we are as Anglicans.
"Who we are as Anglicans" was perhaps the overriding subject of the meeting. The clear message brought by this group of theologians is that Anglicans are Christians who live in a state of constant tension between tradition and innovation. There is no way out because it is a fundamental fact of identity.
Conference participants included representatives from all 11 Episcopal seminaries as well as a healthy mix of parish priests, independent scholars, writers, editors, and faculty from both the religious and secular academy. The Fellows Forum is an outgrowth of the Foundation's Fellowship Program, established in 1964 to develop the learned leadership of the Episcopal Church.
The papers, responses, homilies and other comments from the forum are to be published later this year in the Anglican Theological Review.