Fr. Robert Hart does it again…
July 14, 2010
I have to say Fr. Hart’s latest post, Betrayed, on the Continuum is as usual very much on target. If the Continuing Churches (which could be one of the best hopes for Anglicanism in North America) would return to the heritage of classical Anglicanism – which I believe Fr. Hart is working towards – there could be a revitalization of their churches worldwide. While the post is specifically about the ACA leaders who wish to go Rome-ward, I would say it would not hurt other Anglican clergy to read and take to heart. For certain one can say Fr. Hart’s points about the Articles of Religion and about the state of preaching in some Anglican churches apply in quite a few places – read his essay and see what you think.
4 Comments
leave one →
If the Continuing Churches (which could be one of the best hopes for Anglicanism in North America) would return to the heritage of classical Anglicanism…
Will,
Therein is the dilemma. Apart from a few such as Fr. Hart, I see little evidence among the “St. Louis” clergy, priests and bishops (APCK especially comes to mind), to stand athwart the drift away from or a return to classical Anglicanism; a drift, which at its core, is a drift away from the reformed catholic 16th century doctrines of the English church.
Fr. Hart is doing yeoman’s work. Yet my concern is that the Affirmation of St. Louis is too vague a document to truly be a rallying point. I know Fr. Hart disagrees. But I think his own clarity of doctrine is what he brings to the Affirmation, not what is clearly declared and taught from it. Thus many other clergy of a more Romish bent, or of an atmospherics bent, or of a “clean club” view of Anglicanism are content with the status-quo and feel justified in their brew of weak doctrine and outward emphases.
For instance, Fr. Hart considers the Articles to be part of the Affirmation in that they are part of the BCP which the Affirmation endorses. But that is, at best, an implicit conclusion. And even given that, there has never been, nor is there now, anything close to a subscription to a doctrinal confession such as the Articles for clergy in this country… which has everything to do with both the liberal drift and the Romish drift in American Anglicanism. It gets down to a book of Judges kind of a thing… ‘whatever is right in the eyes of any particular clergy’.
Practice flows from theology, i.e. the doctrinal content of faith. The question of the doctrinal content of Anglicanism must be front and center in order to see a return to classical Anglicanism which, as Fr. Hart rightly says, is protestant – which is catholic.
just some of my musings…
best regards,
Jack
Jack,
Unfortunately I cannot disagree with you at all. While Fr. Hart, from what I have read for years on his blog, is very much where I am theologically, he is probably fighting an uphill battle in trying to gain widespread acceptance of the Articles and of classical Anglican doctrine. Your statement that “practice flows from theology” is a true statement, and the practice I see in the Continuing Churches does not make me wildly enthusiastic about where those Churches are now.
At the same time, perhaps there is some reawakening to our heritage, and I pray that if the Lord so wills it, we can bring about a restoration of classical Anglicanism. I think the battle may have to be fought parish by parish, though, and it may require more educated laity who care about both orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Fr. Hart is truly doing “yeoman’s work” in trying to reach clergy, I think, and perhaps we can do the same for laity. But I do begin to think the “Affirmation of St. Louis” is going to have to be rewritten as it currently may be as much of a stumbling block as it is a building block – at least as concerns the Articles. Add a section to the Affirmation that explicitly affirms the place of the Articles, and a great deal of progress will have been made.
Will,
I emailed this to Fr. Hart:
Hello Fr. Hart,
Will, at Prydain, has posted your essay with some introductory remarks. I commented, as he also did in response. I’m emailing this wondering if you may have something to add. Too pessimistic? Sometimes it seems that those who are laboring towards a more classical Anglicanism are sentenced to a similar plight as Sisyphus; the boulder being that a truly more reformed catholic faith, the hill being the decades of inertia drift away from and erosion of a solid foundation of doctrine and practice within the various provinces and communions.
Maybe he’ll respond and add some light and perspective to this.
I’m glad I came across your blog. Yours is a fresh breeze that blows through the various “religion blogs”.
Jack
Jack,
Thanks for that comment too – I’d be interested to know how Fr. Hart responds to that email. I do begin to think, seriously, that the Affirmation of St. Louis does need to be revised – it is too Anglo-Catholic as written. Or at least, it is too susceptible to misuse as written.