Anglican TV: ABP Duncan Discusses AMiA Crisis

Archbishop Duncan discusses the AMiA Crisis

Submitted by kkallsen on Thu, 08/30/2012 - 00:43

 

Kevin Kallsen and Archbishop Duncan sit down to an intense interview about how the year-old AMiA crisis is affecting the Anglican Church in North American and international relations with the Global South and GAFCON.

Submitted by kkallsen on Thu, 08/30/2012 - 00:43

02:59

 

Theo-Lib-Watch: Worldwide Anglican Bishops Warn UK Anglicans that Only an Orthodox ABC Will Do

Takeaways from the article on Western Anglicanism: (1) The issues are not just LBGT-issues.  These are the consequences of the deeper issue:  liberal theology, creating theological indifference, relativism, incomptence and narcissism.  These are the fruits of the poisonous tree.  There should be a sign saying, “Fraudulent Advertising with Product Liabilities.” (2) The next ABC, according to these non-Western Anglican Bishops, must uphold “orthodox Anglicanism.”  This is unlikely.  Fat chance. The corruption in the West is too extensive and too deep.  (3) Western Anglicanism is increasingly irrelevant to worldwide Anglicanism, especially anything in the oddballish-mutant-mishmash of American Anglicanism, including the conservative offspring, the ACNA. Even the conservative American Anglicans have disorders. (4) The non-Western Anglican Bishops want a “voice,” a “say” and, on their view, they want a lawful and Biblical “influence.”  These Anglicans will not follow Western liberals. (5)  RA believes that liberalism’s collapse is inevitable and that the ecclesiastical chasm is unbridgeable.

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=16360

Only traditionalist Archbishop of Canterbury can save Anglican church, warn primates

THE worldwide Anglican Church risks a permanent split unless someone committed to traditional values is chosen as the new Archbishop of Canterbury, the leaders of 55 million churchgoers have warned

By John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/
July 26, 2012

In a major intervention in the selection process, an alliance of archbishops and bishops from four continents has written directly to the selection committee urging them to choose someone prepared to halt a drift towards liberal values on issues such as homosexuality.

The next Archbishop must be willing to "uphold the orthodoxy of the Christian faith" in order to secure the "future and unity" of the church "at a foundational level", they say in a letter seen by The Daily Telegraph. Only someone with an understanding of the more traditional views of Anglicans in Africa and elsewhere and the ability to gain their "respect" would be acceptable they add.

The warning comes in a letter to Lord Luce, the chairman of the Crown Nominations Commission, which is selecting the next Archbishop, by the leaders of the Church in the so-called "Global South", who met earlier this week in Singapore. Their intervention is likely to be viewed as a boost to the chances of the Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, being selected for Canterbury, as a figure well-regarded in Africa and elsewhere. In addition to being the leader of the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury is the titular head of the estimated 80-million strong Anglican Church worldwide.

Despite its historic ties to England, it is increasingly dominated by the fast-growing churches primarily in southern hemisphere. Most southern provinces still hold firmly to more traditional doctrines but some branches of the Church elsewhere, particularly in North America, have steered a more liberal course in recent years.

The splits were laid bare four years ago when a third of the bishops boycotted the 10-yearly Lambeth Conference in London in protest at the American church's decision to ordain its first openly homosexual bishop, Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. Since then the split has only become more entrenched.

Earlier this year an attempted unity pact on which Dr Rowan Williams staked his authority was rejected in the Church of England itself. Following the announcement of Dr Williams's retirement, leaders of African and Asian churches have privately voiced fears that their views are being ignored in a selection committee dominated by white, liberal-leaning Britons.

Earlier this month Bishop Mouneer Anis, the leader of the Church in the Middle East and North Africa, warned of a "colonial" approach to choosing the new Archbishop. In the letter, signed by 17 primates, they make clear that, as leaders of what is now the majority of the Anglican church, they "expect to be consulted".

"At a time when the Christian faith faces challenges from other religions as well as secular worldviews, the new Archbishop of Canterbury must be committed to uphold the orthodoxy of the Christian 'faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints'," they write, quoting a phrase from the New Testament.

In order to act as "Guardian of the faith" the new Archbishop must be able to enforce unity "especially on issues that have led to the present crisis in the Communion", they add.

"The new Archbishop of Canterbury should have the experience and cross-cultural sensitivity to understand the concerns and conflicts in the worldwide Communion," they add. "He has to be able to communicate effectively and gain the respect and confidence of, his fellow primates in the Global South."

But last night one senior figure in the Church of England warned that the global split could now be too deep for the new Archbishop to bridge. "Whoever it is I don't think one man can achieve it really because the splits are so deep," he said.

Matt Kennedy: What Happened to Western Protestantism

http://www.standfirminfaith.com/?/sf/page/28647

What Happened to Western Protestantism?

Many people still ask, “So what happened to the Episcopal Church? What happened to mainline Protestantism?” “Why do so few who claim to be leaders in the church rejected the most essential doctrines of the faith?” Dr. RC Sproul answers that question in a masterful overview of the last 200 years of western Christianity from Kant to Barth to the New Perspective on Paul, arguing that the Church must recover its “antithesis”, its antithetical stand against those who would deconstruct scripture and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Queen's Speech at Lambeth Palace

http://fcasa.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/the-queens-speech-at-lambeth-palace/

The Queen’s speech at Lambeth Palace

http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2012/02/queens-speech-at-lambeth-palace.html

In an ecumenical gathering of faith leaders at Lambeth Palace, the religious leaders of the nation showed their affection and support for the Queen in her Jubilee year. She, in turn, made one short speech in which she encapsulated perfectly the essential religio-political raison d’être of the Established Church: Your Grace, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Prince Philip and I are delighted to be with you today to pay tribute to the particular mission of Christianity and the general value of faith in this country.

This gathering is a reminder of how much we owe the nine major religious traditions represented here. They are sources of a rich cultural heritage and have given rise to beautiful sacred objects and holy texts, as we have seen today.

Yet these traditions are also contemporary families of faith. Our religions provide critical guidance for the way we live our lives, and for the way in which we treat each other. Many of the values and ideas we take for granted in this and other countries originate in the ancient wisdom of our traditions. Even the concept of a Jubilee is rooted in the Bible.

Here at Lambeth Palace we should remind ourselves of the significant position of the Church of England in our nation’s life. The concept of our established Church is occasionally misunderstood and, I believe, commonly under-appreciated. Its role is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of other religions. Instead, the Church has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in this country.

It certainly provides an identity and spiritual dimension for its own many adherents. But also, gently and assuredly, the Church of England has created an environment for other faith communities and indeed people of no faith to live freely. Woven into the fabric of this country, the Church has helped to build a better society – more and more in active co-operation for the common good with those of other faiths.

This occasion is thus an opportunity to reflect on the importance of faith in creating and sustaining communities all over the United Kingdom. Faith plays a key role in the identity of many millions of people, providing not only a system of belief but also a sense of belonging. It can act as a spur for social action. Indeed, religious groups have a proud track record of helping those in the greatest need, including the sick, the elderly, the lonely and the disadvantaged. They remind us of the responsibilities we have beyond ourselves.

Your Grace, the presence of your fellow distinguished religious leaders and the objects on display demonstrate how each of these traditions has contributed distinctively to the history and development of the United Kingdom. Prince Philip and I wish to send our good wishes, through you, to each of your communities, in the hope that – with the assurance of the protection of our established Church – you will continue to flourish and display strength and vision in your relations with each other and the rest of society. The secular-humanist atheists are incapable of grasping these essential truths, but a few politicians might take note. God Save the Queen.
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http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2012/02/queens-speech-at-lambeth-palace.html

There are numerous commentators "for/against" the religious establishment of the Church of England.

Deterioration of Archbishop of Canterbury

http://fcasa.wordpress.com/2011/10/23/the-deteriorating-world-of-anglican-archbishop-rowan-williams/

The Deteriorating World of Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams

International diplomacy efforts fail to unite Anglican Communion

“The Anglican Communion’s Instruments of Unity have become dysfunctional and no longer have the ecclesial and moral authority to hold the Communion together” — Global South Primates
News Analysis
David W. Virtue

www.virtueonline.org


The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams is losing the fight to keep the Anglican Communion together.
His forays to Africa (Kenya and Congo), following the disastrous Dublin Primates gathering which saw a third of his archbishops (mostly African) refusing to show up, reveal a communion in tatters with his ability to hold it all together now permanently impaired. On a recent trip to Kenya he was accepted as primus inter pares, but not as the leader of the Anglican Communion, a mild slap in the face.

His more recent foray to Zimbabwe proved only a partial success. Dr. Williams was able to paint President Mugabe and Bishop Kunonga as part of the evil empire of homophobia, but he took some serious hits when he was painted as a man who could not make up his mind about what he thought about homosexuality and had therefore betrayed the Communion. British Anglican columnist Charles Raven noted Williams’ strategic abilities and suggested that his confrontation with Mugabe “looks like an exercise in Lambeth Palace’s African ‘realpolitik’ which orthodox Anglicans ignore at their peril.”

The irony should not be missed. An Archbishop says to an audience in Africa “You know very well, dear brothers and sisters, what it means to have doors locked in your faces by those who claim the name of Christians and Anglicans” while he stood to the side as thousands of orthodox Anglicans in North America had the same experience. He tells his audience in Harare that “Day by day, you have to face injustice and the arrogance of ‘false brethren’ as St Paul would call them”, but would St. Paul find any difference between those who lock doors in Harare and those who lock doors in TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada? Are the Zimbabweans false brethren simply because they intimidate with a fist rather than a writ?

It would be a great tragedy if the reframing of Anglicanism that we are seeing take hold in Africa and the Global South was to be subverted by Lambeth rebranding, wrote Raven.

A recent gathering of eleven orthodox Anglican archbishops in China to which Dr. Williams was not invited reveals again how deep the growing divide is between Canterbury and the ever-expanding Global South.

A communiqué released by the archbishops at the end of their China visit in September spoke volumes. It roundly repudiated both Dr. Williams’ own theology and the Anglican Communion’s “Instruments of Unity” insisting that secular pressure to allow unacceptable practices in the name of human rights and equality is wrong.

They further blasted what they said was “the undermining of Scriptural authority and two millennia of church tradition, the erosion of orthodoxy has gone as far as the ordination and consecration of active gay and lesbian clergy and bishops, and the development of liturgies for same-sex marriage.”
Without mentioning names, it was clear they had bishops Katharine Jefferts Schori, Gene Robinson and Mary Glasspool in mind.

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