Anglican Consultative Council Research Articles

A Comparison of the Porvoo, Waterloo, and Called to Common Mission Agreements from the Perspective of Transitivity

Abstract The Anglican-Lutheran Porvoo Declaration (1996) has implications for global Anglican-Lutheran relations. It nurtured ecumenical processes which resulted in ‘full communion agreements’ between Lutherans and Episcopalians in the United States of America (1999), and in Canada between Lutherans and Anglicans (2001). Although the Porvoo Declaration influenced the later documents, regional bilateral agreements are not automatically interchangeable. The concept of ‘transitivity’ describes the relationship of two ecumenical agreements with each other and the possibility of applying an agreement in other regions. The Anglican Consultative Council (acc) in 2015 invited churches where appropriate to implement recommendations on ‘Laying foundations for transitive relationships’. In this article an analysis is offered of the current ecumenical situation and the presuppositions and implications of full communion agreements in general and individually. Communion-wide guidelines to identify possible next steps and the grounds on which all three ‘full communion’ agreements could become mutually transitive is also examined.

Enhancing the Safety of All Persons within the Anglican Communion: Initiatives of the Instruments of Communion

AbstractThis article tells the story of initiatives of the Instruments of Communion to enhance the safety of all persons within the Anglican Communion over the past three decades. These Initiatives have taken place against the backdrop of the significant evidence that has come to light in recent years of abuse being perpetrated by clergy and lay leaders against children, young people and vulnerable adults in the provinces. It describes the actions of the Lambeth Conference, the Primates’ Meeting, the Anglican Consultative Council, and the work of the Anglican Communion Safe Church Commission.

Governing Body of the Church in Wales

The April meeting was held while the Anglican Consultative Council was meeting in Hong Kong, and the Governing Body received a video message from Dr Heather Payne and the Ven Mary Stallard, its two representatives. In his presidential address to the September meeting, the Archbishop of Wales spoke of the challenges facing the Church and said that those who challenged the Church, asking sometimes uncomfortable questions, deserved to be taken seriously. He also highlighted some of the initiatives that the Church in Wales was undertaking as part of the acknowledgement that the status quo for ministry in Wales was unlikely to meet the needs of the province in the decades ahead.

The Lambeth Conference: Theology, History, Polity and Purpose. Edited by Paul Avis and Benjamin M. Guyer

In this compendious collection, there are perhaps two running themes which return to the surface as the streams of the various tributaries come together in a reservoir of resources in preparation for the 2020 Lambeth Conference. The first theme might be summarized as ‘what sort of animal is the Lambeth Conference?’ From the first conference onwards there has always been a reluctance or indeed refusal to see the Conference as a synod, or indeed a meeting which issues statements carrying with them a mandatory authority. Second, there is the theme of ‘what did successive conferences contribute in some of the key areas of ecclesiology and church teaching?’ As with many essay collections, there is variability, not so much in this case in terms of quality, but instead in depth of analysis. Some essays are broad overviews or surveys; others are detailed analyses of specific issues. So, in Part I, ‘Theological, Historical and Constitutional Studies’, Stephen Pickard and Paul Avis pitch the first two essays at the more general level. Pickard surveys the place of the Lambeth Conference in the context of the four instruments of communion within Anglican polity—the other three include the Primates’ Meeting, the Anglican Consultative Council, and the office of Archbishop of Canterbury. Avis explains the background to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s role in relation to the Lambeth Conference. Both essays are useful and particularly for those who are engaging with the nature of communion within Anglicanism for the first time. Benjamin Guyer’s essay moves us to a deeper level of analysis, engaging with the thorny issue of how this ‘unprecedented step’ of calling together a gathering of Anglican bishops worldwide would relate to the Royal Supremacy within the Church of England. Guyer’s argument is fascinating, focusing on conciliarism and the work of Nicholas of Cusa in fifteenth-century Germany and also on the crossovers between Church and State in England. New ground is broken here and Guyer argues that the Lambeth Conference was from the beginning effectively intended to be a synod. It was the Royal Supremacy in England which prohibited this from becoming an agreed reality.

Five Marks of Mission: History, Theology, Critique

AbstractIn recent years the Five Marks of Mission have become the latest in a long series of mission ‘slogans’ in the Anglican Communion, but little attention has been paid to their origin or theological presuppositions. This paper traces the development of an Anglican definition of mission from the 1984 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, at which a four-fold definition was first put forth, to the present use of the Five Marks of Mission across many parts of the Communion. The strong influence of evangelical mission thinking on this definition is demonstrated, as is the contributions from African Anglican bishops. Anglican mission thinking has shifted from emphasizing pragmatism and coordination to providing a vision for the Communion to live into. Mission thinking has been a site of genuine cross-cultural interchange among Anglicans from diverse backgrounds.

The Importance of Moral Authority: Reflections on Current Events in the Anglican Communion

ELLEN K. WONDRA*On January 14, 2016, the Primates of the Anglican Communion announced that they had passed resolution requiring that for period of three years Episcopal Church no longer represent us on ecumenical and interfaith bodies, should not be appointed or elected to an internal standing committee and that while participating in the internal bodies of the Anglican Communion, they will not take part in decision making on any issues pertaining to doctrine or polity.* 1 action was taken in response to the Episcopal Church's 2015 decision that the sacrament of marriage is to be available to same-sex as well as opposite-sex couples.2 Notably, the resolution makes no mention of this subject. Rather, it is about doctrine and discipline, and who has what kind of authority to make determinations about both.A week after the meeting, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said that the Primates had that the Episcopal Church not participate in the activities stipulated by the Primates,3 whose actions he clearly supports. In his address to the Church of England's General Synod, the Archbishop used the term to describe the Primates' actions, term used in the drafts of the still-unapproved Anglican Covenant.4 Further, Archbishop Welby has said, This decision binds the Primates as group, but not any Province or other Instrument of Communion. It is powerful and morally forceful guideline.5At the beginning of the April 2016 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, Archbishop Welby gave report on the Primates' meeting, in which he said that the Primates' gathering had to balance three things, freedom, order and human flourishing. He specifically rejected the idea that the Primates had imposed sanctions or suspension, while also indicating that could be expected for any province that promotes its own autonomy over that of the catholic interdependence and mutual accountability of others.6 He noted that no of communion can legally bind the actions of any other, while also noting that the 1988 Lambeth Conference had passed resolution stating that the Primates have an enhanced responsibility in offering guidance on doctrinal, moral and pastoral matters, such that the Primates are a key to growth of interdependence within the Communion.' Archbishop reported that he had fulfilled his responsibility as an instrument of communion, which included asking Episcopal Church of interfaith or ecumenical bodies ... whose appointment he controls, to stand down, and they have done so.8 Archbishop has also appointed the Task Group for which the Primates called.At the end of its meeting, the Anglican Consultative Council passed resolution saying:The Anglican Consultative Council1. receives the formal report of the Archbishop of Canterbury to ACC 16 on the Primates' Gathering and Meeting of January 2016; and2. affirms the commitment of the Primates of the Anglican Communion to walk together; and3. commits to continue to seek appropriate ways for the provinces of the Anglican Communion to walk together with each other and with the Primates and other Instruments of Communion.9When asked what this resolution meant for the the Primates had called for, Archbishop Welby said, The consequences stand.10 Episcopal Church representatives to the ACC said that beyond [the Archbishop's] report, ACC members seemed to have little energy for answering the primates' call for consequences, for discussing disagreements over human sexuality, or for taking up the call of Anglican Communion Secretary-General Josiah Idowu-Fearon to pursue the Anglican Covenant. Yesterday [April 18, 2016], in fact, resolution that sought to pursue further consequences against Episcopal Church was withdrawn just before it was scheduled for debate.* 11In other words, three of the four instruments of communion of the Anglican Communion12 have now acted in response to the actions of the Episcopal Church, and indicated that similar may follow from possible actions of the General Synods of the Anglican Church of Canada (to be held in July 2016), the Scottish Episcopal Church (to be held in 2017), and any others that may make decisions similar to those of the Episcopal Church. …

Gaping Gaps? Implications of the ‘Bible in the Life of the Church’ Project for Bridging the Anglican Hermeneutic Divide

AbstractThis paper seeks to explore the ‘hermeneutical gaps’ identified in a recent and ongoing investigation across the Anglican Communion into the way the Bible is read within worldwide Anglicanism. This investigation is of contemporary importance to the Anglican Communion as the Project's findings were recently presented to the 15th Anglican Consultative Council in October 2012. The ‘hermeneutical gaps’ which have been identified shed important insights into the strained fellowship which currently seems characteristic of the Communion. The approach of this paper is to evaluate whether these ‘gaps’ are symptomatic of an inevitable fracturing within the Communion or whether points of apparent disconnect in the use of the Bible are able to be bridged, held together or reconciled for the benefit of Anglicanism's common life.

Gifts of Communion: Recovering an Anglican Approach to the ‘Instruments of Unity’

AbstractThe Anglican Communion has developed ‘Instruments of Communion’ to aid communication and sharing of wisdom throughout the Communion. When the Archbishop of Canterbury invited bishops from the Communion to attend a meeting at Lambeth in 1867 to consult and seek common counsel for the good order and care of the churches of the emerging Anglican Communion the first of the Lambeth Conferences took place. In more recent decades the Anglican Consultative Council and Primates’ Meeting have developed to enable the bishops, clergy and lay people of the worldwide Anglican Communion to listen to one another, share their life and join in common mission. In recent years these four elements in international Anglicanism – the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates’ Meeting – have become known as Instruments of Unity or Communion. Tensions and fractures in the Communion have raised questions about the value or use of the so-called Instruments of Unity.This article analyses the concept of ‘Instrument’ and assesses its value for understanding the nature of the Anglican Communion. It argues that the Instruments have a gift-like character and function in a quasi sacramental manner. As such they are indwelt rather than used in a tool like way. This approach to the Instruments of Communion gives high priority to the character and disposition of human agents participating in Communion structures and the importance of fostering a deeper communion among the Instruments for the sake of the Church and its witness to the gospel.

Two Streams Mingling: The American Episcopal Church in the Anglican Communion

AbstractThis article identifies and compares two ecclesiological ‘streams’ that coalesced when the Anglican Communion was definitively formed in 1867: the traditional western catholic ecclesiology of England and Ireland and the more democratic, egalitarian ecclesiology of the American Episcopal Church. These streams had already mingled in George Augustus Selwyn’s constitution for the New Zealand Church. Incorporation of laypeople into the Church of England’s synods represented further convergence. Nonetheless, different understandings of the role of bishops in church government are still reflected in attitudes to the respective roles in the Communion’s affairs of bishops and primates on the one hand and the more recent Anglican Consultative Council on the other. Differences between the two streams were noticeable at the 1867 Lambeth Conference. The efforts of Archbishops Davidson and Fisher, rooted in the work of Selwyn, to hold together what Selwyn called ‘the two branches of our beloved Church’ are praised.

For the Reconciliation and Unity of the Anglican Communion: A Japanese Perspective Post Lambeth 2008

AbstractHow the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (NSKK), the Anglican Church in Japan, can respond to the discussion at the Lambeth Conference 2008? The NSKK celebrates its 150th anniversary of its missionary, beginning this year (2009). The NSKK is a diverse church where high and low, broad and liberal co-existed from the beginning, which in a way represented the epitome of the Anglican Communion. The NSKK officially expressed its position regarding the ‘Anglican Covenant’, at an early stage when the Windsor Report 2004 was issued; owning a binding force as in ‘Anglican Covenant’ does not match the spirit of Anglicanism which values the unity of diversity and autonomy of each province and diocese, and ‘Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral’ is enough for a guideline for the unity of Anglican Identity. The NSKK is a church, which values the principles of the consensus fidelium in the Anglicanism and focuses on the Anglican Consultative Council as the center.

Beyond Lambeth 2008 and ACC14: Tuning a Polity of Persuasion to the Twenty-first Century

AbstractRecent tensions within Anglicanism have brought about an intense re-visiting of some of the debates that surrounded its emergence as a worldwide Communion in the nineteenth century. Then, as now, there were a number of suggestions for stronger structures at the centre. With Lambeth 2008 and the recent ACC 14 (Anglican Consultative Council 14), the Anglican Communion has effectively reaffirmed its commitment to a voluntarist, relational way of being together; dealing with differences through mutual self-limiting rather than by central control. Beyond specific proposals, such as that for an Anglican Covenant, this continued commitment to a ‘polity of persuasion’ will require time and patience as well as a quality of ongoing engagement to succeed. What is at stake is more than Anglican unity. It is the capacity for Anglicanism to witness with integrity to the world about living under God in community, sharing power, and co-existing interdependently on a tiny and increasingly conflicted planet.

Anglican Women: Empowering Each other to Further God's Kingdom

ABSTRACTIn February 2006, women from every province of the Anglican Communion gathered in New York for the annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Once assembled, they established an organizational structure to perpetuate their gathering and called for an expanded women's presence on all Anglican Communion governing bodies. This article traces the development of the group, showing how a few women used the political structures of the Anglican Communion–the Anglican Observer at the United Nations, the Anglican Consultative Council and the International Anglican Women's Network–to assemble Anglican women. It demonstrates that the experience of meeting together became a source of empowerment for the participants and analyzes the factors contributing to the venture's success so that they might serve as models for the Anglican Communion as it struggles to maintain unity while embracing diversity.

The common law of the Anglican communion1

The Virginia Report of the Inter Anglican Theological and Doctrinal Commission (1997) identified as the four instruments of Anglican unity: the Archbishop of Canterbury; the Lambeth Conference; the Primates' Meeting; and the Anglican Consultative Council. The aim of this short article is to examine whether and how canon law might be acknowledged as one of the instruments of Anglican unity. First, the study proposes that there are principles of canon law recognised by churches. These are rooted in the canonical tradition shared by churches of the catholic and apostolic tradition. Secondly, it proposes that the profound similarities between Anglican legal systems indicate, as a matter of descriptive fact, what Anglicans share in common juridically. Together, the principles of canon law and the similarities between Anglican legal systems represent the common law of the Anglican Communion. Thirdly, the study addresses some methodological issues raised in ascertaining and formulating the canonical principles of the Anglican ius commune. Finally, it suggests some reasons and justifications for an acknowledgement of the Anglican common law.

Wolfhart Pannenberg, by Allan D. Galloway. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1973. 143 pp. £3·25 hardback, £1·50 paper. - The Theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg. by Frank E. Tupper. SCM Press, London, 1974. 322 pp. £4·75.

Book Review in this Articles:WOLFHART PANNENBERG, by Allan D. GallowayTHE THEOLOGY OF WOLFHART PANENBERG, by Frank E. TupperLOGICO‐LINGUISTIC PAPERS, by P. F. StrawsonPOPERY AND POLOTICS IN ENGLAND 1660‐1688, by John MillerANGLICAN/ROMAN CATHOLIC DIALOGUE: THE WORK OF THE PREPARATORY COMMISSION, edited by Alan C. Clark and Colin DaveyPARTNERS IN MISSION: ANGLICAN CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL SECOND MEETING, Dublin

Anglican/Roman Catholic Dialogue: the Work of the Preparatory Commission, edited by Alan C. Clark and Colin Davey O.U.P., London, 1974. 129 pp. £1 (paper). - Partners in Mission: Anglican Consultative Council Second Meeting, Dublin, lreland, 17-27 July 1973. S.P.C.K., London, 1973. 94 pp. 60p.

Anglican/Roman Catholic Dialogue: the Work of the Preparatory Commission, edited by Alan C. Clark and Colin Davey O.U.P., London, 1974. 129 pp. £1 (paper). - Partners in Mission: Anglican Consultative Council Second Meeting, Dublin, lreland, 17-27 July 1973. S.P.C.K., London, 1973. 94 pp. 60p.

Book Review: PARTNERS IN MISSION. Report of the Anglican Consultative Council Second Meeting, Dublin, Ireland, 17-27 July 1973. SPCK, London 1973. Price 60p

Book Review: PARTNERS IN MISSION. Report of the Anglican Consultative Council Second Meeting, Dublin, Ireland, 17-27 July 1973. SPCK, London 1973. Price 60p