The Genius of Anglicanism

In mid-October the Lambeth Commission, a group of seventeen Bishops, clergy and scholars from across the Anglican Communion called together by the Archbishop of Canterbury partially in response to the election and consecration of V. Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire, issued its Windsor Report. In typical Anglican fashion it did not please anyone totally and most everyone partially.

     The Report slapped both the hands of The Episcopal Church and General Convention for consenting to the election of Gene Robinson, an openly gay priest living in a committed relationship with another man, and those of the Bishops who participated in his ordination as bishop. It also slapped the hands of those Bishops from within the Episcopal Church and those from the wider Communion who crossed diocesan boundaries without the consent of the diocesan bishop to confirm and pastor congregations opposed to the Robinson affair. Neither “side” was pleased. Supporters in both camps wanted acceptance of their actions and condemnation of those of their opponents. Both, again, received what amounted to no more than a slap on the wrist with a “Now-don’t-do-that-again warning and now let us get on to what the whole matter is really all about: authority.”

     They did. Personally, I think it is a marvelous document written in typically Anglican fashion: well-conceived, well thought out and presented for the considered discussions, opinions and feedback from the worldwide Communion. It lays out concisely and well who we are as Anglicans and how we presently function as a Communion of thirty-eight autonomous provinces who hold much in common but not everything. It is in those areas of disagreement that seems to be of most concern at present – like the blessing of same-sex relationships and the ordination of practicing homosexuals. That is the underlying and provoking issue. The real issue is that of authority.

     In the Anglican Communion these is no final authority as there is in the Roman Communion. We like it that way. We always have. We like local autonomy. We always have, that is until there is something over which we really disagree: the ordination of women and the two above-mentioned issues being the three most recent ones. We all hold that Scripture, Tradition and Reason are our three points of reference. But we know traditions change, reason expands our understanding through experience and learning, and there is no one, final interpreter of Scripture, not in our Communion, anyway.

The Report really asks: Do we want one such final authority? Do we: 1) want to give the Archbishop of Canterbury more power than he now has, perhaps to be pope-like; 2) want the Lambeth Conference of Bishops (the 800+ from the entire Communion who meet every ten years) to be the final arbiter of faith and morals; 3) want the Anglican Consultative Council which advises the Communion on matters of faith and morals to have more power; or, 4) we want the 38 Primates to be that final authority? The 38 Provinces are asked to read, mark and inwardly digest this Report and then report back.

     The truth is, we don’t necessarily like the way the Communion works and is. But we also don’t necessarily think that the Communion is so broken that the only solution is to give someone or someones more authority. Church fights have always been about power and authority, even as they have been driven by arguments over theology. We want some authority to tell everyone else we are right and the rest are wrong. When the shoe is on the other foot, we would rather that same authority stay out of the argument. In the end we may not like what is, but we will conclude that it is better than the alternative.