Doctrine in the Church of England, finished the Introduction

For those who have just arrived we are continuing our look at Doctrine in the Church of England - The Report of the Commission on Christian Doctrine Appointed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York in 1922.

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We were appointed to consider existing agreement within the Church of England and the removal or diminution of existing differences. ~ Introduction, page 24

The Commission on Christian Doctrine focused more attention on and gave the most space to those areas where there was the most divergence of opinion in the 1920s and 30s rather than the areas that are most important for faith and theology. If the current Archbishop of Canterbury, The Rt. Rev. Rowan Williams were to appoint a similar commission today, I would imagine that the major focus would shift in two areas, but remain the same in the third. In fact it would be interesting if +++Rowan could appoint instead of just a Church of England, but a Communion-wide commission to focus on Christian doctrine related to the topics of the role, if any, of GLBTQ persons in the Church including the debate on the partaking of same gender couples in the commonly called Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, the role of women in Holy Orders especially that of the order of bishops, and the perennial topic of Eschatology [es-kuh-TAHL-uh-jee].

Actually, it would be really nice if the Primates and Bishops of the Anglican Communion meeting at Lambeth Palace in 2008 would take such an action and appoint a modern day Anglican Communion-wide Commission on Christian Doctrine. Then maybe we could discover how much we Anglicans have in common, agree to disagree on the few things we don't have in common, and finally stop focusing on the issues that divide us, turning our focus instead on worshiping and serving Christ. Instead, unless there is a major intervention of the Holy Spirit, we well most likely get strife, squabbling, and schism. If only our Primates and Bishops would take the advice written almost 80 years ago by the Church of England's Commission on Christian Doctrine:

Certainly we have found that so soon as both parties to any controversy set themselves to find other expressions than those which have been traditional among them, they discover a far greater measure of substantial agreement than they had anticipated. ~ Introduction, page 24

I would say there are more issues that unite the worldwide Anglican Communion than divide it, but only the divisions make the news. It is mostly those divisions that get talked about in the Anglican corner of the Blogosphere. And it is mostly those divisions that our "instraments of Anglican unity" focus on. In the Gospel of St. Matthew, St. Peter joins our Lord in walking on the waters of the Sea of Galilee. It is only when St. Peter took his eyes off the unchanging Christ and put his focus on the changing wind, that St. Peter started to sink into the waters. At least St. Peter had the presence of mind to call out "Lord, save me!"

God save the Anglican Communion!

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Categories: Anglican Communion, Anglican Doctrine, Anglican Unity, Anglicanism, Archbishop of Canterbury, Books,Christian Doctrine, Christianity, Church of England, Church of England Doctrine, Doctrine,ECUSA, Episcopal Church, Episcopal Doctrine, Non-Fiction,Reading, Religion, Rowan Williams, Schism, & Theology.