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

Showing posts with label Jack Iker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jack Iker. Show all posts

Thursday, March 13, 2014

13 Mar 1559: Disputation at Westminster Re: English Services, Church Power, the Mass

13 March 1559. A disputation was held at Westminster in behalf of “English services.” It’s hard to realize the significance of this, but England was just coming off the Marian regency; there were also severe Anglo-Italian bishops and presbyters in the land. 
 
The participants on the Reformed side were: Misters Scory, Coxe, Whitehead, Sandys, Grindal, Home, Aylmer, and Guest (a quasi-Lutheran).

 The subject: “…disputation between nine divines of either contending party, to be conducted in writing, in the English language, before the members of the Council and both houses of Parliament, in the church of Westminster, was appointed to be held on the 13th of March, 1558-9.”



The points to be discussed were:


1. The lawfulness of prayers in the vulgar tongue;


2. The power of the Church to change rites and ceremonies;


3. The scriptural authority for the sacrifice of the Mass: all having an immediate bearing upon the contemplated measure.


It is assumed that the most able men favoring the “new opinions,” or to use the contemporary term of art in the 16th century, the “Evangelicals,” were selected to advocate their cause on this occasion.


John Jewell's name was in the list of the nine reformed divines along with those of Scory, Coxe, Whitehead, Sandys, Grindal, Home, Aylmer, and Guest.  This is no slight testimony to the estimation in which he was held.


We tie in an aside from John Jewel to Jack Iker of the ACNA.


On side note: a few weeks back, Mr. (they call him bishop) Jack Iker opined that Tractophiles/Tractaholics/TFOs were ensconced in the patristic and early period while others were/are rooted in the Reformation. To wit, those ensconced in the English Reformation don't appreciate the patristic period.  Here’s Jack’s false dilemma, errant either/or, reduction, and over-simplification:


“We rather like the 1549 Prayer Book,” Iker said, “as the standard. We would contend that Anglicanism flourished in England for many years prior to the Reformation era and that we are a reformed catholic church rather than a Protestant denomination born in the 16th century. Henry VIII did not found the Anglican Church and neither did the reformers. Dr. Edward Pusey, the early Tractarian and the spiritual father of the Oxford Movement, said we understand reference to the ancient Church, instead of the Reformers, as the ultimate expounder of the meaning of our Church.”


The hubristic and arrogant upshot is that “we,” the TFOs, have the “leg up” due to “our” more ancient roots. They've chattered themselves up again and again on this point. It’s gas. Remember clearly the open and repeated hostilities of the TFOs to the English Reformation. The TFOs will use about anything to advance themselves in Anglicanism.  Jim Packer called them "Roman Trojan Horses." In 1842, the entire episcopal bench opposed the TFOS. By 1900, opposition softened, but was not gone. The TFOs tried but failed (due to more skilled defenders) in 1928 to get a TFO BCP in England; the TFOs tried and partially succeeded in a less able nation, the US.


For Jack's statement, see:
Iker, Jack. “Sermon by The Right Reverend Jack L. Iker, Bishop of Fort Worth.” Reformed Churchmen. Feb 27, 2014. http://reformationanglicanism.blogspot.com/2014/02/stand-firm-mr-bp-iker-on-tfo-rec-divide.html . Accessed Mar 13, 2014.


Now, for the tie-in from Iker to Jewel. Emphatically, the English Reformers understood themselves to have worked in the patristic era. Jewel is one such example, but there are others also. If anything, the English Reformers were ensconced in patristics; they knew they were the continuing Church of England; they realized the Church of England pre-dated Henry VIII.  Iker's chatter works with the unlettered, but not others. 


For “a” larger backstory on Mr. (Bp.) John Jewel, a patristics scholar, see: http://reformationanglicanism.blogspot.com/2013/08/mr-rtrev-john-jewel-bishop-of-salisbury.html 
 
We have “other” backstories also on Jewel and other. Sit down Iker. Better, go join a Continuuers group of TFOs.


Back on point, on this day, 13 May 1559, a disputation was held at Westminster in behalf of “English services.” The participants on the Reformed side were: Misters Scory, Coxe (a rather rough sort), Whitehead, Sandys, Grindal (future Canterbury), Home, Aylmer, and Guest (a quasi-Lutheran).

Thursday, February 27, 2014

(Stand Firm) Mr. (Bp) Iker's Simplifications on TFO-REC Divide

הִנְנִי גֹעֵר לָכֶם, אֶת-הַזֶּרַע, וְזֵרִיתִי פֶרֶשׁ עַל-פְּנֵיכֶם, פֶּרֶשׁ חַגֵּיכֶם; וְנָשָׂא אֶתְכֶם, אֵלָיו


Stand Firm | Exclusive: Bishop Iker on the Anglo-Catholic/Evangelical Divide 


Exclusive: Bishop Iker on the Anglo-Catholic/Evangelical Divide 


REC Synod Eucharist at the Church of the Holy Communion in Dallas for the annual meeting of the Diocese of Mid-America on February 21, 2014


Sermon by The Right Reverend Jack L. Iker, Bishop of Fort Worth 


This could never have happened 20 years ago. When I became a Bishop in 1993, The Episcopal Church and the Reformed Episcopal Church were not even talking to one another. It would have been unthinkable that the Bishop of a high-church, anglo-catholic diocese like Fort Worth would have been invited to preach at the annual synod of an REC Diocese. 


We represented the two different extremes of the churchmanship spectrum. Our theologies were at odds with one another, and the only time anglo-catholics in TEC spoke about the Reformed Episcopal Church was in critical, even derogatory terms – and vice versa, I assume. The REC had little good to say about high-churchmen such as me! 


My how things have changed! In a matter of two short decades, we have gone from being opponents to being allies. We have moved from being two separated churches to being part of one united body – The Anglican Church in North America: one, missionary, biblical, and uniting. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes! 


This does not mean that all our differences have suddenly disappeared, but it does mean that we now stress that what we disagree about is far less than what we have in common. There is more that unites us than divides us. And this new sense of our oneness in Christ and our unity as a church is something God has done, and it is the work of the Holy Spirit – not man. 


The origins of all this go back to the Common Cause Partnership and the Round Table Discussions, as they were called, some six or seven years ago. The erosion of biblical authority and the rise of liberal theological revisionism in The Episcopal Church had begun to lead to significant fall-out. Those who stood for orthodox Anglicanism began to make common cause with others in different jurisdictions and church bodies, to stand together for the truth of the Gospel and to reject the false gospel that was undermining the Church. This made for some strange bedfellows, or so it seemed.


We are here today to thank God for all that has been accomplished and to renew our commitment to doing mission together in the years ahead. As the Apostle Paul reminds us in the Epistle reading this morning: “What we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” (II Corinthians 4:5)  It’s not about us – it’s about Him.  But what we preach to the world around us is much more credible and effective when we do it together, as one church, rather than separately, on our own. 


Jesus reminds us that we belong together – and indeed are part of one another – in the teaching in today’s Gospel where He says: “I am the vine and you are the branches… He who abides in me … bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) What a wonderful image this is, of the Church as a fruit-yielding vine, with different branches, but all enlivened by our common roots, our one source of life. Abiding in Jesus in Scripture and sacrament and prayer. Abiding in Jesus in a common fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ, united not divided – one, though we are many. Bearing much fruit to the Glory of God in making new disciples, in planting new churches, in standing for the authority of the Holy Scriptures, and in exhibiting the fruits of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives. That is our common vocation and witness. 


In my growing-up years in Cincinnati and even in my studies at the University of Cincinnati and then at General Theological Seminary in New York City, I do not recall having even met a member of the Reformed Episcopal Church. Oh, I knew what it was, and there was a passing reference to it in our American church history course. This meant that the REC was viewed with a certain degree of suspicion and even denigration. Are their holy orders valid? Are their bishops really in the historic apostolic succession? Are they truly Anglicans? Aren’t they just a little protestant sect?


The first REC Bishop I ever met was Bishop Ray Sutton after he came here to the Church of the Holy Communion. And after a few conversations with him, I began to think, “Well he’s not half as bad as I thought he would be!” – as an REC clergyman, not as a person. But as we got to know one another, the stereotypes began to crumble, preconceptions were set aside, and we came to understand that we shared the same faith and ecclesiology and Prayer Book spirituality. Now my greatest friends and allies in the ACNA College of Bishops, as a traditional Anglo-Catholic, are your REC Bishops – Royal Grote, Ray Sutton, Leonard Riches, Sam Seamans, and others. Our fidelity to the Scriptures and the Anglican tradition are paramount, not our past histories of estrangement.  


You may be interested in knowing that the last four priests who have come into the Diocese of Fort Worth as new rectors have come from the REC – three of them from this Diocese of Mid-America and latest one even from this parish – prompting Bishop Grote to say: “Jack, stop taking all my best priests!”  I think our friendship depends upon it!


But on a more serious note, there are some serious tensions and differences that we must address in our future life together in ACNA. I will comment on them very briefly. The biggest one, of course, is the issue of the ordination of women to the priesthood. It is not sufficient to simply say: “Well, some bishops do it and some don’t.”  I am pleased that Archbishop Duncan has appointed a Theological Task Force on Holy Orders, which is now addressing this issue that some have called “the elephant in the room.” A final report is expected in January 2016, and then it will be decision time. I would simply observe that anglo-catholics and the REC stand together here. Those who do not ordain women make up a majority of the College of Bishops, and we see the ordination of women presbyters as a departure from the witness of Holy Scripture and the apostolic practice of the ancient Church. Pray for God’s guidance as we seek to resolve this deeply divisive issue, in the interest of deepening our unity in Christ. 


Second, there is a continuing tension between evangelicals and anglo-catholics that we live with. This is true in the international GAFCON movement as well as here in the ACNA, where evangelicals seem to dominate. Evangelicals emphasize the 16th-century Reformation and the work of the reformers in the Church of England. Everything is referenced in terms of the 1662 Prayer Book and the 39 Articles. Anglo-catholics reference the ancient Church of the patristic fathers and emphasize the historic faith and order of the undivided church, before the division of the Church in the West from the Eastern Church. We rather like the 1549 Prayer Book as the standard. We would contend that Anglicanism flourished in England for many years prior to the Reformation era and that we are a reformed catholic church rather than a Protestant denomination born in the 16th century. Henry VIII did not found the Anglican Church and neither did the reformers. Dr. Edward Pusey, the early Tractarian and the spiritual father of the Oxford Movement, said we understand “reference to the ancient Church, instead of the Reformers, as the ultimate expounder of the meaning of our Church.”   


Here too anglo-catholics and the REC stand together. We affirm the four essential elements for church unity called the Chicago/Lambeth Quadrilateral. 


  1. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the revealed Word of God, containing all things necessary to salvation, and our ultimate standard and guide in matters of doctrine and morals.
2. The Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds as sufficient statements of the Christian faith.


     3. The two Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion as instituted by Christ himself.


     4. The historic Episcopate, which preserves the apostolic succession of bishops, priests, and deacons. 


All of these are pre-reformation realities, dating back to the first apostles. They are not confessional statements originating in English Reformation theology. 


So my dear friends in Christ, let us continue to stand together and witness together for what St. Jude calls “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (vs. 3) Let us give thanks to God for this goodly fellowship of faith, where God’s Word is truly preached and truly heard; where the Sacraments are faithfully administered and faithfully received; and where our lives are being fashioned according to the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we may show the power of His love to all among who we live. 


This is our great heritage as Anglicans, living members – by God’s grace – of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of the ages. 

Friday, July 26, 2013

FIFNA & Misters Ray Sutton, Keith Ackerman, Jack Iker and Bob Duncan of the Anglican Church of North America

Cardinal John Henry Newman
Convert to Rome
Former Anglican and Oxford Professor
Hero, Patron Saint, and Forerunner of Tractarians

 

http://anglicansablaze.blogspot.com/2013/07/apprising-new-fifna-declaration.html

By Robin G. Jordan
 
Mr. (bp.) Keith Ackerman
FIFNA Leader
Confraternity of Blessed Sacrament
SSC (Society of Sacred Cross)
Tractarian
 
I am posting a link to “A Hasty But Comprehensive Response to the Critics of the New FIFNA Declaration,"  Nathaniel Kidd’s defense of the recent changes in the FIFNA Declaration of Common Faith and Purpose. The Rev. Kidd would lead us to believe that those draw attention to the changes in the FIFNA Declaration and their implications are engaging in sensationalism. Their criticism of this theological statement is unwarranted.

 








Mr. Bob Duncan (left),
Mr. Jack Iker (right).
Mr. Iker is
another Tractarian
Kidd’s defense of the new FIFNA Declaration assumes that Henry Newman’s interpretation of the Thirty-Nine Articles in a Roman Catholic direction is an acceptable interpretation of the Articles. The GAFCON Theological Resource Group in The Way, the Truth, and the Life, however, rejects Newman’s interpretation of the Articles. They identify his interpretation of the Articles as part of the Anglo-Catholic movement’s challenge to the authority of the Bible and the classic Anglican formularies in the Anglican Church. Newman disregarded authorial intent and historical context in interpreting the Articles as have subsequent Anglo-Catholics in imitation of Newman. Newman would eventually reject the Articles and become a Roman Catholic, believing that his earlier attempts to reconcile the Articles and Roman Catholic theology were untenable.
 
 
Nineteenth century Evangelical and Protestant High Church scholars in the Church of England effectively refuted the claims of the Tractarian and Ritualist movements that they alone represented authentic historic Anglicanism and their churchmanship was the only true churchmanship. Twentieth century scholars have also shown the falseness and inaccuracy of these claims. The Anglo-Catholic movement in the twenty-first century continues to make such claims. They underlies its claim to be a genuine expression of Anglicanism.
 
 
Mr. Ray Sutton
Reformed Episcopal Church
 
Both nineteenth and twentieth century scholars have shown that the Anglo-Catholic movement is essentially an anti-Bible, anti-Reformation movement that seeks to change the identity of the Anglican Church and to make the Anglican Church more Roman Catholic in belief, order, and practice. At one time the hope of Anglo-Catholics was that if they made the Anglican Church sufficiently like the Roman Catholic Church, the pope would accept the Anglican Church back into the Roman Catholic fold.

 
The acceptance of Anglo-Catholicism in the Anglican Church is confined to one segment of the Church. This acceptance may be attributed largely to the erosion of Biblical authority and the liberalization of the Church. 
 
 
The late Peter Toon’s observation that the initial Common Cause theological statement went well beyond historic Anglicanism in its affirmation of the teaching of the first seven Councils of the undivided Church is applicable to the new FIFNA Declaration of Common Faith and Purpose. Interestingly a number of the church leaders involved in the Common Cause Roundtable also serve on the FIFNA Council. The final Common Cause theological statement forms the basis of the Anglican Church in North America’s Fundamental Declarations.

 
The new FIFNA Declaration of Common Faith and Purpose’s assertion that Christ is substantively present under the species of bread and wine is clearly at odds with Article 28. While a segment of the Anglican Church may have embraced the doctrine of transubstantiation under the influence of the Anglo-Catholic movement, this is not sufficient grounds to disregard the doctrine of the Articles as it applies to the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. A segment of the Anglican Church also no longer regards homosexual behavior as immoral and sinful. Are we then on the same basis to reject the teaching of the Bible and the doctrine of the Articles as they apply to God’s moral law?

 
Forward in Faith in North America may now be representing itself as a teaching organization, rather than a lobbying group. However FIFNA represents itself, the organization promotes Anglo-Catholicism. It unites in its membership Anglo-Catholics who desire to export their beliefs and practices to the global South and change the shape of global Anglicanism. Anglo-Catholicism and liberalism are the two major challenges to the authority of the Bible and the classic Anglican formularies that the GAFCON Theological Resource Group identifies in The Way, the Truth, and the Life.

 
The observation that the new FIFNA Declaration of Common Faith and Purpose puts Forward in Faith North America at odds with historic Anglicanism, the Thirty-Nine Articles and the Jerusalem Declaration is a valid one. Kidd may wish to gloze over this fact—explain it away. But it is undeniable.
The making public of the changes in the ACNA Ordinal, of the ACNA Catechism, and of the ACNA Holy Communion rites may shed light on this development. They will reveal the theological direction of the Anglican Church in North America, which Forward in Faith North America may be seeking to anticipate and influence with its new Declaration of Common Faith and Purpose. We shall see when the Anglican Church in North America finally releases those documents.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Virtual Tour of the Largest Marian shrine in the World available, ahead of Pope's visit to Brazil

Virtual Tour of the Largest Marian shrine in the World available, ahead of Pope's visit to Brazil


Virtual Tour of the Largest Marian shrine in the World available, ahead of Pope's visit to Brazil
2013-07-16 19:38:49 
 



YoutubeJuly 16, 2013. (Romereports.com) In a matter of days, Pope Francis will make his first international trip as the head of the Catholic Church. His schedule in Brazil, will include a quick visit to the largest Marian shrine in the world, the National Sanctuary of Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil.


The immense complex has been the home of Brazil’s patroness for centuries. Located between the cities of Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro, a visit to the Shrine is also available online.
 
 
The sanctuary’s website,  www.a12.com  allows visitors to check out video and photos, as well as a 360 degree “virtual pilgrimage” of the large complex.

 
The tour starts off at the new Basilica, which ranks second in size to St. Peter’s Basilica. With the sounds of a choir in the background, users can choose from seven points throughout the building. They include a few of the chapels on the wings of the church, dedicated to Jesus Christ, as well as St. Joseph.

 
However, the main draw is the small statue of Our Lady of Aparecida, which is perched at the head of the Basilica, surrounded by the Chapel of the Apostles. According to tradition, fishermen came across the statue on the sea. Soon after, locals began venerating it. Aparecida, eventually became the Patroness of Brazil. The image, which resembles the Immaculate Conception, differs in that it became the first Marian apparition with dark skin.But the pilgrimage would not be complete without visitng the old Basilica. For nearly 200 years, it housed the statue of Our Lady of Aparecida, until the new one was completed more than 30 years ago. The old Basilica, which is much smaller in size, was build in barroque style, and is much more ornate than the new one.