British-ness and Anglican-ness

A discussion Starter
There are certain parallels between a public discussion in Britain and one in the Anglican Communion of Churches.

British-ness

For several decades, those who may be described as liberal-minded in Britain have been commending what is called the multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-lingual society. And this “philosophy” is deeply entrenched in the language & public statements, if not all the actual workings, of government, social services, the courts and education. In contrast, the conservative-minded have been warning of the loss of British identity and traditional British culture if this multi-this-and-that philosophy stays in place.

Now there are signs of a change of emphasis from leaders of the liberal-minded. Without retracting their belief in the multi-this-and-that approach, they are beginning to emphasize that there must be a core of British-ness that all accept for the multi-approach to succeed. In other words, for the multi-this and that approach to work all must accept a common basis and general definition of British identity, and this must govern the way that the culture, language, religion and way of life is conducted.

Why the change? Because there are within some of the expressions of particular culture and religion the signs of the emergence of home-grown international terrorism. Young men born in Britain now see Britain as the enemy as they view it from an extreme “Islamist” position. This is worrying and frightening to many.

So there is now the possibility in Britain that the liberal-minded and the conservative-minded can begin a fruitful discussion leading to a general agreement as to what is British-ness. This discussion will cover such things as commitment to democracy and the rule of law together with the place of the Monarchy, the Parliament, the Courts, the historic traditions and public holidays, and so on.

For most people the practical ideal seems to be a common core of British-ness (as the hub of a wheel) from which spokes (cultures/religions/languages) go out to the perimeter (which is the termination of liberty of expression and the boundaries of the nation).

Anglican-ness

The Anglican family in 2004 is multi-national, multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-churchmanship and multi-liturgical. For a very long time, this family has existed in many countries, been composed of many races, spoken many languages and enjoyed worship of varying degrees of Protestant and Catholic ceremonial and churchmanship. What is new in recent times is the arrival of the “multi-liturgical.” This refers to the use of a very large variety of forms of service especially for the Eucharist, and contrasts with a previous situation of a very limited variety based on the common service in The Book of Common Prayer (1662).

The liberal-minded in the Anglican family of churches insist that diversity is as a virtue and should be celebrated as such. Further, they say that the family is held together by a basic if minimum understanding of Anglican-ness. This Anglican-ness must of course first of all include basic Christianity (the Bible as Witness to the Word of God and the Creeds) and then have Anglican distinctives. The latter are usually said to be -- one episcopate/one college of bishops which meets at the Lambeth Conference every ten years, one Primates’ Meeting of 38 Presiding Bishops/Archbishops, meeting annually, one See (Canterbury) as the central focus, and one Consultative Council meeting every two or three years and a common shape/structure of liturgy. Together with these “instruments of unity,” the liturgical distinctive is the new definition of “Common Prayer” as “Common Shape with variety of content and details” in contrast to the old and classic definition as “Common Texts in a common shape, used by all.”

The conservative-minded of the Anglican family of churches accept that there is diversity yet do not see it as a virtue but rather as a neutral word, a description of how things are in the providence of God. They accept that Anglican distinctives are added to basic Christianity or, better, are means for the expression of basic Christianity. For them the initial and primary distinctives are the classic Formularies (i.e., the liturgical or doctrinal texts which contain the formulas of the Faith). These are the historic, classic Book of Common Prayer, Ordinal and Articles of Religion, which are in the Constitutions of virtually all the Provinces of the Anglican Communion of Churches. Together with these Three they are happy to affirm the place of the “instruments of unity” in a secondary position as being just what their name implies.

Perhaps the crisis of the Gene Robinson as bishop affair in the USA is serving as a means of bringing the liberal-minded and the conservative-minded Anglicans into new conversation. This is desperately needed because the effects of the massive variety of liturgical expressions is helping to cause centrifugal forces which are pushing the family into division and disunity. The revival of the Formularies could serve as a means of encouraging healthy centripetal forces to be felt leading to unity on firm foundations.

[For a copy of my The Annotated Order for Holy Communion of the BCP 1928 (48 pages with one page of the liturgy with one page of explanatory notes on each double page) please go to the anglicanmarketplace.com site or call the PBS on 1 800 727 1928.]



The Revd Dr Peter Toon April 4th, 2004