A guide to the Anglican Covenant
As dioceses in the Church of England weigh the Anglican Covenant, the Church Times has put together a reader's guide that contains articles both pro and con perspectives.
The document has peeked out from behind the pay wall thanks to Thinking Anglicans.
Resolution 11 of the 1886/88 Lambeth Quadrilateral survives pretty much intact (though so far as I can see unacknowledged) in section 1.1.3 to 1.1.6 of the Covenant.
But where's the beef? The controversial part of the Covenant comes in Section Four, by which time many readers will have given up. As commentators in the Church Times pointed out, at this point the language moves from the language of the Church to the language of lawyers. Please persevere, or if necessary, skip till this section, which contains the worst of the Covenant.
Posted by Laura Sykes![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
|
March 25, 2011 4:39 PM
A quote from the annotations: "1.2.1, 1.2.2 & 1.2.3 - These correlate to scripture, tradition, and reason, but this document goes on to mention scripture a great deal more than tradition (or doctrine), and reason hardly at all. This document has very little historical instinct when it comes to theology. Hooker, for instance, more than anyone else, forged an Anglican theological sensibility, but he and his work are nowhere mentioned."
Despite the presence in 1.2.2 of the phrase "moral reasoning" (meaning "moral determination"), it's astounding that "reason" in the sense of Richard Hooker is not mentioned at all.
Also astounding: although the proposed Covenant mentions "God's love" there is no mention of the central principle of Christian ethics, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself', in a document written to provide Anglicans with a way to live together.
Posted by William F. Hammond![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
|
March 25, 2011 7:02 PM