Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Friday, July 27, 2012

A Well-Grounded Anglicanism


Finally, finally, finally.  A man of history, theology, the confessions, creeds, old Prayer Book, learning and intelligence!  Uncommon to hear these things these days.  Certainly not from the "minority faiths," e.g. Western Anglicanism.

A WELL GROUNDED ANGLICANISM

By Roger Salter
Special to Virtueonline
www.virtueonline.org
July 21, 2012

 We witness today a severely enfeebled Anglicanism. Our leadership is vague. Our parishes are nondescript. Our identity is unclear. Our effectiveness is minimal. There are exceptions, some notable, to these characterizations, but on the whole the condition of Anglicanism is not healthy.

Much of it is perverse. In its manifestation it is too diverse, unwieldy in its divergence from biblical truth, and confusing in its deviations from the historic Anglican Way. The multiplicity of "versions" of Anglicanism, all with the claim to be authentic, and all professing the aim of Anglicanism's resurgence as a strong and vibrant Christian movement have proved to be disappointing, have lacked certain vital elements, or added alien features to its simple Scriptural, Reformational, Protestant, character.

For Anglicanism to get itself right it must first rediscover its roots as a Reformed Catholic expression and presentation of divinely revealed truth. We need to know ourselves, first of all, from a historical perspective. Without a sense of history we are orphaned, unsure, and directionless.

We need an inherited sense of origin, conviction, and aspiration as a body. Our heritage is strong, rich, and wise and it is summed up in the Liturgy, Ordinal, and Articles compiled in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. The intentional meaning and use of the BCP is outlined for us in the lives, ministries, and witness of our Reformers and the faithful heirs of their tradition. Their teachings and biographies assist us in maintaining constitutional and confessional Anglicanism. It is inexcusable to go astray. It is easy to consult the guidance of our founders and their followers, ascertain their mind, and adhere to their counsel.

Our Biblical Catholicism derives from subscription to the great Ecumenical Creeds, namely the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds, our regard for the fathers when their instruction is Scriptural, and we stand with the great champions of effective grace from the earliest post-apostolic era to the time of the Reformation e.g. Prosper, Fulgentius, Gregory the Great, Isidore of Seville, Gottschalk, Ratramnus, Anselm, Bernard of Clairvaux, Peter Lombard, Aquinas, Bradwardine, Wycliffe, Gregory of Rimini, Huss, and Luther's mentor Staupitz. All of these figures were firm Augustinians and highly regarded by the men who guided the English nation into Gospel light in the fifteen hundreds.

From Cranmer to Abbott, a span of 70 years, our Archbishops of Canterbury and the bulk of English Bishops were staunch Reformation men (with the obvious exception of Archbishop Reginald Pole in Mary's brief reign, himself a near evangelical reformer within the Church of Rome). The rise of William Laud signaled the end of the dominance of Reformational thought.

But Anglican history from the 16th century to the present is studded with the names of great men who have adhered to the doctrinal and devotional Augustinianism of the BCP. The company of these luminaries is large, including: Ridley, Latimer, Bradford, Jewel, Whitgift, Grindal, Hooker, Davenant, Hall, Donne, Boys, Herbert, Ussher, Perkins, Trapp, Gurnall, Beveridge, Whitefield, Toplady, Newton, Romaine, Grimshaw, Law (Henry), Simeon, McIlvaine, Tyng, McNeile, Ryle, Moule, Griffith Thomas, and so on into the 20th and 21st centuries. Here is a galaxy of worthies who can be our guides in maintaining the testimony of classic and authentic Anglicanism.

How can genuine Anglicanism jettison its Calvinism and embrace sacramentalism, as some have advised, when we stand in such a lineage of faithful, brave, and holy advocates of Christ's Gospel? It is unthinkable and not negotiable. The doctrines of grace are far too precious to us. Nor should fear of contradiction, criticism, and accusation keep us silent. We are not to be discourteous, but we are not to be dissuaded from proclaiming plain Scriptural truth that keeps us indebted to grace and eternally grateful to the mercy of God. We are not to brawl over doctrine and be gratuitously offensive but nor must we muzzle ourselves in the enunciation of truth that humbles man and exalts the Lord Jesus as entirely our Saviour in every necessary way in the accomplishment of our salvation.

Our loyal confessionalism does not confine our affection for other believers and our fellowship with them. All of God's people are admired and accepted right along the spectrum from Rome to anywhere else the Word of God is revered and the Redeemer wholly relied upon. Love must be the bond between us all, but allegiance to our standards in belief and ministry may not be compromised. It is dangerous to our calling and conscience. Sovereign grace is to be extolled. It glorifies the great Three in One who has stooped and sacrificed to save us to the uttermost when we were, and without him are, utterly helpless. Arminianism is alien to Anglicanism and should not prevail among us (our leadership and clergy). Arminianism has diluted our dealing with sin and our estimate of the magnitude of grace (pure and free). "We make no contribution from ourselves to our salvation. From beginning to end it is of grace . . . . The seventeenth Article not only accompanies Calvin beyond the point where Augustine stopped short, but it effectively excludes an Arminian interpretation of predestination" (D.B. Knox). Electing love exhilarates, encourages, and emboldens us and Anglicanism today needs all three - the capacity to exhilarate believers with the wonder of grace, present it encouragingly to the lost, and be bold in doing both.

The day for dithering is over. The day for decisiveness is here. May God grant us the restoration of Anglicanism as it clearly should be.

The Rev. Roger Salter is an ordained Church of England minister where he had parishes in the dioceses of Bristol and Portsmouth before coming to Birmingham, Alabama to serve as Rector of St. Matthew's Anglican Church

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