The ECUSA & the Anglican Province of S Africa: On sharing a Catechism

It has been widely noted in the last decade or more that it is the Anglican Church in South Africa, through its former and present Primate, which has been the most friendly of all African provinces towards the innovations and the leadership of the Episcopal Church of the USA.

In fact the leadership of the Anglican Province in South Africa is more liberal and less disposed to criticize innovations in sexual partnerships than are the provinces to the north. At the same time, in comparison with the extreme liberalism of the Episcopal Church of the USA, the Church of the Province of South Africa is a semi-conservative church, much less committed to radical innovations than her American sister.

The relation of the two Churches, and the more radical nature of the American, goes back a while and can be seen in the way in which the Catechism of the ECUSA Prayer Book of 1979 is adapted and used by the South Africans in their An Anglican Prayer Book (1989). The latter is in essence a Book of Alternative Services and stands alongside the classic Book of Common Prayer (1662). It is a Prayer Book which has a distinctly Anglo-Catholic flavor and is only partially committed to the rendering of the Bible and ancient Canticles according to the theory of dynamic equivalency in translation of ancient texts. In the Psalter, there is a retention of the literal form of translation since Psalm 1 begins, “Blessed is the man…” (cf. 1979 ECUSA – “Happy are they”).

As Dr Tarsitano and I have shown in some detail in our study of the 1979 ECUSA Prayer Book (see our Neither Orthodoxy nor a Formulary….. [2004] published by the Prayer Book Society, call 1 800 727 1928), the Catechism in the 1979 Prayer Book falls well below what is necessary for an orthodox statement of the Catholic Faith. It is deficient in its doctrines of man, salvation, the Trinity, the person of Christ, and so on.

The South Africans took it over because it was one of the very few recent Catechisms available in the Anglican Communion, but in receiving it they sought to improve it by judicious editing and additions.

Here is what they added:

• The full Ten Commandments (rather than merely a reference to them)


• The full Apostles’ Creed (rather than merely a reference to it)


• A lengthy explanation of “The duty of all Christians” to the section on “The Ministry”


• A new section on Stewardship


• Explanations of meditation and contemplation to the section on “Prayer & Worship”


• A new section on Fasting


• A new section on Angels

Further, they cut out of the Catechism the novel ECUSA way (first used in 1967) of referring to the Blessed & Holy Trinity as “God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” Their answer to the question as to what we mean when speaking of God as Trinity is as follows: “We mean that we believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, three Persons and yet one God.” [It gave me a sense of satisfaction to see the latter as for many years I have protested about the abbreviated and potentially heretical way that ECUSA has spoken and continues to speak of the Triune LORD.]

The Catechism in the 1989 Book is still deficient, but it is less so than is the 1979 Catechism (which remains the expressed doctrine of the ECUSA, and was created as a summary of the content of all the services in the Rite II mode in the 1979 Prayer Book).

The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon M.A., D.Phil. (Oxon.),
Christ Church, Biddulph Moor & St Anne's, Brown Edge