Archbishop Robin Eames, Primate of All Ireland, delivered another lecture – this time for the 2005 Pitt Lecture at the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale. He issued a warning on the future of World Anglicanism.
Here is a short paragraph from the lecture describing a crucial element of Anglicanism. Click below to read the whole lecture, which is long.
The concept of ‘communion’ lies at the heart of Anglicanism. At once it provides us with our raison d’etre and at the same time as giving us our uniqueness provides the basis for much of our self-analysis. Our understanding of KOINONIA, our analysis of what it means and our attempts to share those conclusions with other Christians provides us with our ethos. Our pain over the past few years, well documented across the world, stems from our failure to embrace what we have learned of KOINONIA and to translate that learning experience into practicalities. If we have a virtue it must surely be that there is a transparency about our quest – and we have not hidden our pain from others. It is my submission that in trying to find a way forward Anglicanism will do more than indulge in house-keeping – it will in fact help other traditions to see more clearly what the Easter message means for the institutional Church.
From: Episcopal News Service
Monthly Archives: October 2005
It’s about Truth
You know, when it all comes down to the ground, this issue for me is no longer about homosexuality per-se, but it is about Truth, and it is about our own human arrogance, and about following the model of Christ, and about the whole phenomena of forcing Scripture to conform to our own proclivities. Too much of the Fundamentalist Church (and many Evangelicals) finds itself rejecting anything that challenges what they WANT Scripture to say – what they WANT Scripture to bless or condemn.
Here is a commentary written by Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., who “serves as president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary — the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world.” He will argue that if we accept homosexuality we MUST reject most everything about Scripture and most everything held true by the Church. This is a ludicrous belief.
Here are a couple paragraphs:
“Put bluntly, if the claims put forward by the Homosexual Movement are true, the entire system of the Christian faith is compromised, and some essential truths will fall.
Lest this be seen as an overstatement, consider the issue of biblical authority and inspiration. If the claims of revisionist exegetes are valid, then the very notions of verbal inspiration and biblical inerrancy are invalidated. But the challenge is yet deeper, for if, as the revisionist interpreters claim, Holy Scripture can be so wrong and misdirected on this issue (to which it speaks so unambiguously), the evangelical paradigm of biblical authority cannot stand.”
Read it all.
What he fails to understand is that WE can be wrong and misdirected in our attempts to interpret and apply Holy Scripture. Just because exegetes, theologians, pastors, regular ole’ lay people, UNDERSTAND parts of scripture differently does not impinge upon inspiration or validity of the Scriptures one iota! Who are and who are not the true Christians between those who understand Scripture to support Calvinism or those who understand Scripture to support Arminianism? Are we going there, still?
Was Scripture proven wrong when most Christians came to believe with Galileo in The Copernican Model of the solar system? The Vatican declared Galileo a heretic because he believed the earth revolved around the sun. This was a belief that contradicted “Biblical Truth” as the Church understood it from the beginning of the Church! Scripture was not proven wrong, but OUR understanding and application of Scripture was proven wrong.
This guy, and those who steadfastly follow this line of thinking, believe that we have all the wisdom and understanding we need right now, right now during the beginning of the 21st century, to competently and fully understand God, God’s ways, and Holy Scripture. How arrogant and profoundly prideful! I guess we know all things at this point, huh?
I am convinced that they do not really want to know Truth, but want to find justification and consolation for what they WANT to be truth.
A False Assumption
“If you are truly humble, you will always be ready to seek (and accept!) help from others. The present genteel, self-loving brand of piety assumes, ‘I don’t need anybody; I can set things right with God myself.’ But as long as you quietly try to work out your own salvation, you won’t get anywhere. Only when you recognize your need for others and reach out and open up to them will things move forward.”
J. C. Blumhardt
Source: J. C. B., in Friedrich Zuendel, “The Awakening”
Daily e-mail from the Bruderhof Communities
What Communion?
Archbishop Robin Eames, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland spoke at Virginia Theological Seminary (that finishing school down south -hehe) concerning his interpretations of how the world-wide Church has conducted itself since the Windsor Report was published.
Here is the text of his address. I think it is important and encouraging as we move forward. I don’t think some of the “conservatives” will agree with his interepretations, but that’s the way things are.
THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION: WHAT COMMUNION?
Yesterday in my first lecture I tried to suggest that there is a relationship between the historic growth of the Anglican Communion and the emergence of difficult issues which threaten our common life. I also suggested that it is possible to turn crisis into opportunity.
In this second lecture I want to say something about Anglican understanding of what ‘communion’ means, the implications of the relationship we call ‘being in communion’ and then to look ahead into the future of the Anglican Communion.
I am concerned that the full implications of the Windsor Report and the process it involves returns to the centre of our thinking as a Communion, As I said in the Introduction to that Report, Windsor must be seen as part of a process. Windsor did not seek to address the rights and wrongs of the sexuality question. That was not the task given to the Lambeth Commission. It was a Report on how Anglicanism could address deep differences, deep divisions on principle and it is about methodology. It is my own conviction that in the history of the Anglican Communion the value or otherwise of Windsor must be judged by the process of which it is part — but only a part. Windsor was not just born out of controversy. It was, I believe an honest attempt by a diverse group of Anglican scholars and leaders to address how bonds of affection, autonomy and diversity could face up to divisive issues — and such issues will I am convinced continue to arise in the years to come. As we prepared the Report I often asked myself the question — how much does Anglicanism really want to overcome obstacles to corporate communion when there is such diversity on the nature of that ‘communion’ itself?
Mindset List
Beloit College in Wisconsin puts out a new “Mindset List”every year detailing interesting tid-bits on income college freshmen. These lists always make the rounds in higher-education, and I’ve always found them quite interesting. The Journal of Higher Education puts out a very detailed and comprehensive profile of new freshmen every year, for those who really want the low-down on our new students. The Mindset List is a bit more whimsical and fun.
Here is the Mindset List for the new traditional aged freshmen for the class of 2008:
BELOIT COLLEGE MINDSET LIST®
FOR THE CLASS OF 2008
1. Most students entering college this fall were born in 1986.
2. Desi Arnaz, Orson Welles, Roy Orbison, Ted Bundy, Ayatollah Khomeini, and Cary Grant have always been dead.
3. “Heeeere’s Johnny!†is a scary greeting from Jack Nicholson, not a warm welcome from Ed McMahon.
4. The Energizer bunny has always been going, and going, and going.
5. Large fine-print ads for prescription drugs have always appeared in magazines.
6. Photographs have always been processed in an hour or less.
7. They never got a chance to drink 7-Up Gold, Crystal Pepsi, or Apple Slice.
8. Baby Jessica could be a classmate.
9. Parents may have been reading The Bourne Supremacy or It as they rocked them in their cradles.
10. Alan Greenspan has always been setting the nation’s financial direction.
11. The U.S. has always been a Prozac nation.
12. They have always enjoyed the comfort of pleather.
13. Harry has always known Sally.
14. They never saw Roseanne Roseannadanna live on Saturday Night Live.
15. There has always been a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
16. They never ate a McSub at McD’s.
17. There has always been a Comedy Channel.
18. Bill and Ted have always been on an excellent adventure.
19. They were never tempted by smokeless cigarettes.
20. Robert Downey, Jr. has always been in trouble.
21. Martha Stewart has always been cooking up something with someone.
22. They have always been comfortable with gay characters on television.
23. Mike Tyson has always been a contender.
24. The government has always been proposing we go to Mars, and it has always been deemed too expensive.
25. There have never been any Playboy Clubs.
26. There have always been night games at Wrigley Field.
27. Rogaine has always been available for the follicularly challenged.
28. They never saw USA Today or the Christian Science Monitor as a TV news program.
29. Computers have always suffered from viruses.
30. We have always been mapping the human genome.
31. Politicians have always used rock music for theme songs.
32. Network television has always struggled to keep up with cable.
33. O’Hare has always been the most delay-plagued airport in the U.S.
34. Ivan Boesky has never sold stock.
35. Toll-free 800 phone numbers have always spelled out catchy phrases.
36. Bethlehem has never been a place of peace at Christmas.
37. Episcopal women bishops have always threatened the foundation of the Anglican Church.
38. Svelte Oprah has always dominated afternoon television; who was Phil Donahue anyway?
39. They never flew on People Express.
40. AZT has always been used to treat AIDS.
41. The international community has always been installing or removing the leader of Haiti.
42. Oliver North has always been a talk show host and news commentator.
43. They have suffered through airport security systems since they were in strollers.
44. They have done most of their search for the right college online.
45. Aspirin has always been used to reduce the risk of a heart attack.
46. They were spared the TV ads for Zamfir and his panpipes.
47. Castro has always been an aging politician in a suit.
48. There have always been non-stop flights around the world without refueling.
49. Cher hasn’t aged a day.
50. M.A.S.H. was a game: Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House.
Click below for the list for the Class of 2007 –