The Church of England Newspaper has this week published an article by Graham Kings. This is at Religious Intelligence under the title Reading and Reshaping the Anglican Communion.
This is a shorter version of a paper on the Fulcrum website, the long version can be found here.
The article has two parts: a “Reading” which involves a diagram.
The Religious Intelligence copy has an illegible version of this. Go here for a large version.
The other part is a “Reshaping” proposal, which may provoke some interesting discussion.
I see little so far in Graham Kings map that is not already redundant in terms of what we have long understood about ourselves as part of this global communion – yeah, already a global communion. We are that, now, together, across all our differences. For his dimensions of Federation-Communion, it is pretty easy to see through to the long-standing high-low church or Protestant-Anglo-Catholic dimensions of our non-singlemindedness, at its best so full of generosity and full of heart. Our marks? The Lambeth-Chicago Quad. Our existing Communion is our unmerited gift from God through following Jesus of Nazareth. Akinola is… Read more »
It’s a lot of God’s eye view map drawing, that is it’s as if written by some neutral observer or near the centre of power – if there is one. It’s wrong anyway. The “federal” is more “confederal” and there are theological words for such. The GAFCON crowd is only confederal from his stance: they will turn out to have the religious politics of centralism, and hardly federal or confederal. I wrote this as part of a comment to Fulcrum: If they [GAFCON] continue to punch above their weight, and if you evangelicals cannot do a Kinnock and knock them… Read more »
I believe when the dust settles and the history is written – the work of those four (or was it six) men and a website combined with the bellowing of Blessed Tom along with a smattering of other active Fulcrumites will be exposed as a major destabilising influence in the attempt to prevent the realignment. They advocated for positions that had no chance of success and pushed for a whole set of unreasonable outcomes. Somehow a fairly large group of people came to think they held sway and were then deeply disappointed when they found out they had been so… Read more »
Graham Kings and co flexed their muscles with ++Rowan over Jeffrey John – but I agree with Martin Reynolds that it is time at the bar for them now, and the ABC knows that there is a silent majority that want none of it. The Communion (loosely understood) is not as hi-jackable as easily as they might think.
Thanks for the various comments so far on my article. A few short responses to continue the discussion. drdanfee: your high church/low church parallel to my communion/federation concept is helpful, and the Lambeth Quadrilateral is taken for granted. Could you explain a bit more about the ‘Trojan Horse tilt’? I do indeed want us to live generously together, and believe that the Covenant will be vital to that. I also believe that we need to think for ourselves at various levels and not just take matters from on high. I am a vicar. In attempting to ‘map’ where I see… Read more »
Thanks, Pluralist, for your comment here, and on Fulcrum and on your site. I use the word ‘federal’ in the diagram to link it to ‘federation’, which is the concept used by those which who wish to demote the Communion, and have a much looser affiliation, for various reasons. ‘Confederacy’ in the Concise OED means ‘league; alliance; conspiracy; collusion.’ I realise that you have argued strongly against the idea of a Covenant, and were very upset about the Archbishop’s Advent Letter, but these are indeed ‘central’ to the Anglican Communion at the moment, in that the central bodies, or instruments… Read more »
Thanks, Martin, for your comment. It may be that, in your comment about 6 men and a website, you are referring to the Anglican Communion Institute. Yes, Fulcrum has close links with ACI and we are both, in terms of my suggested diagram, Communion Conservatives. Their facilitating of the Camp Allen meetings for bishops who, though conservative on sexual issues, plan to remain in The Episcopal Church, has been very significant. We wait to see whether the plan for ‘Communion Partners’ will work: I think it will. See: ‘Communion Partners Formed: Statement of the Organizing Bishops’, ACI site, 31 May… Read more »
Thanks for your comment, Neil. I think you are confusing Fulcrum with Anglican Mainstream when you say that ‘Graham Kings and co flexed their muscles with ++Rowan over Jeffery John’. As has been made clear on previous Thinking Anglican threads, and is clear in my suggested diagram, there are key differences. Fulcrum is not trying to ‘hijack’ the Communion. As I commented earlier, the central Instruments of Communion are behind the Covenant and the Archbishop’s Advent Letter and Fulcrum is too. Some in other groups with suggestions for a ‘non-Canterbury based Federation’ may be trying, in your words, to ‘hijack’… Read more »
Thank you Graham – but I think you were actually one of the first to be in touch with ++Rowan after the gay but celibate Jeffrey John’s appointment to Reading was announced, even though AM did the campaigning. And I don’t think I’m confused about your position and how it varies from other groups. The Covenant, despite the ABCs letter and other support you outline remains an attempt to hijack the Communion from the silent majority who, I believe, continue to want to operate within existing structures. I continue to hope it is time at the bar for all Covenanteers.… Read more »
Thanks, Neil, but you are reporting gossip. Let’s continue focusing on the subject of the article, for you raise key questions about the Covenant. In the article, I stated: ‘The focus of the conference is on ‘The Bishop in Mission’ but, since mission and Church interweave so closely, these two subjects, the Covenant and the future shape of the Communion, will be studied in depth by designated groups throughout the conference, will be discussed in plenary sessions and some decisions will be made.’ So the ‘time at the bar’, or the ‘crucial time for discussion and decision’, of the Covenant… Read more »
Sorry not to reply earlier dear Graham. My recollection is of ACI/Fulcrum – building its reputation by helping to whip up division within the ranks of ECUSA (along with some English bishops) and then trying to appear as the honest broker, this is a technique I have seen repeated over and over… There was no balance in their reporting of the issues in TEC, while everything ACI wrote was worth reading – it failed to tap any healing root and was just the best of the loud sounding fury. Perhaps these few had known too much bitter disappointment and pain?… Read more »
With GAFCON very close now – whether in Jordan as well as Jerusalem is not yet clear – we will all just have to wait and see which bishops of the Church choose to attend, and what will be their contribution to the expected outfall? Will the recent Gay Clergy Blessing provide the sort of clarification of intent that Uganda and Nigeria, Southern Cone and CANA, Global South and certain bishops of the Church of England want and expect? Or will it be put into context, for what it really is – a sprat to catch a mackerel? As a… Read more »