Thinking Anglicans

Divisive or Reconciling?

on Thursday, 24 April 2008 at 10.13 am by Simon Sarmiento
categorised as Anglican Communion

A conference was convened in New York City by the General Theological Seminary at the Desmond Tutu Center, April 10-12, 2008 and sponsored by the seminaries of the Episcopal Church and the seminaries of the Anglican Church of Canada. The title was An Anglican Covenant: Divisive or Reconciling?

News reports on this:

Church Times Covenant will protect male power, says critic
Episcopal News Service Anglican covenant conference draws international group, elicits varied viewpoints

Photographs are here.

Audio and Full Texts of Conference Papers
PDF files and MP3 files of the sessions can be found in this archive.

Go there for the links, but here is a list of the speakers to whet your appetite:

First Keynote Address:

• The Case for an Anglican Covenant the Most Rev. Drexel Gomez, Archbishop of the West Indies.

First Panel:

• The Kenotic Role of Leadership in a Covenanted Relationship, the Very Rev. Joseph Britton, Berkeley Divinity School at Yale.
• The Covenant as a Sign of Problems with Authority, The Rev. Dr. Ellen Wondra Seabury-Western Theological Seminary.
• A Fine Thing, but is it Anglican?, The Rev. Canon Dr. David Neelands , Trinity College, University of Toronto.
• Whose Covenant? The Anglican Covenant, the People of God and History from Below, Dr. Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski Church Divinity School of the Pacific.

Second Keynote Address:

• cov-e-nant n 1. a solemn agreement . . . A ‘global south’ perspective on Anglicans, solemnity and agreement, Canon Dr. Jenny Plane Te Paa, St. John’s Theological College, Auckland.

Second Panel:

• St. Andrew’s Covenant: A Conversation in Process, The Rev. Dr. A. Katharine Grieb, Virginia Theological Seminary.
• The Proposed Anglican Covenant: Instrument of Oppression and Exclusion or Instrument of Inclusion and Justice?, The Rev. Dr. Leander Harding, Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry.
• The Covenant, the Quadrilateral, and Balance, The Rev. Dr. Robert Hughes, School of Theology, University of the South.
• The Consitutionality of an Anglican Covenant, The Rt. Rev. Joe Morris Doss, President, At the Threshold.

Third Panel:

• The Lambeth Conference 2008 and the Anglican Covenant: Juridical or Missiological Imperatives?, The Rev. Dr. Ian Douglas, Episcopal Divinity School.
• Communion, Federation, or Sect?, The Very Rev. Dr. John Kevern, Bexley Hall.
• Vernacular Particularity vs. Global Universalism: A Pivotal Issue for the Anglican Covenant, The Rev. Dr. Richard Leggett, Vancouver School of Theology.
• The Covenant and Ecumenical Opportunity, The Rev. Canon Dr. J. Robert Wright, read by the Rev. Dr. Ellen Sloan, Chaplain, General Theological Seminary.

Fourth Panel:

• Forbearance and Reconciliation: An Anglican Covenant in a Season of Judgment, The Rev. Dr. Christopher Seitz, Wycliffe College.
• Covenant: Ecclesiological Implications of a Latent Metaphor, The Rev. Canon Dr. Paul Jennings, Montreal Diocesan Theological College.
• The Fullness of the Stature of Christ: The Anglican Covenant in Ecumenical Ecclesiological Perspective, Dr. Nathan Jennings, Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest.
• Mission and Reconciliation in the Anglican Covenant, The Rev. Dr. Titus L. Presler, General Theological Seminary.

Third Keynote Address:

• Boundaries Old and Boundaries New: Views from the Edge of the Anglican Communion, the Rev. Canon Gregory Cameron, Deputy Secretary General of the Anglican Communion.