DUMBING DOWN by Episcopalians – and of the Central Dogma of the FAITH

A call to Trinitarian Orthodoxy

Do you realize that at every ordination of a bishop, priest and deacon in the Episcopal Church since the 1970s there has been a dumbing-down of the central dogma of the Christian religion at the very beginning of the services? (See 1979 prayer book, pages 512, 525, & 537)

Do you realize that at every baptism since the 1970s there has been also a dumbing down of the central dogma of the Christian religion at the beginning of the service? (See 1979 prayer book, page 299)

Do your realize that at every Rite II Eucharist (except during Lent & Easter season) there has been since the 1970s a dumbing-down of the central dogma of the Christian religion? (See page 355)

In 1967 someone on the Liturgical Commission came up with the idea of beginning the Eucharist with an Acclamation and produced one, based upon the Blessing given by the priest in the Orthodox Liturgy. Let us first of all note what is the original Blessing from the ancient Liturgy of St Chrysostom of the patristic period.

At the beginning of the “Liturgy of the Catechumens” within the Divine Liturgy, the priest, holding the Gospel Book, intones:

Blessed is the kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now, and ever, and unto ages of ages.

This Blessing is Praise of God and secondly blessing of the congregation. It affirms that that there is one and one only divine kingdom, but that there are three divine Persons in the One Godhead. Thus the kingdom is the kingdom of each One and of all Three, evn as there is one Divine Nature and each Person possesses this wholly and completely. The whole liturgy celebrates the Kingdom and provides entrance to the heavenly banquet of the Kingdom through Communion.

Let us now note the abbreviated & dumbed-down version created by the Liturgical Commission in 1967 and used ever since, first in trial liturgies and then in the 1979 prayer book.

Celebrant: Blessed be God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
People: And blessed be his kingdom, now and for ever. Amen.

To the untrained ear this may sound fine. To the average priest, with little education in classic doctrine and dogma, this may sound fine. To the priest or layman who desires to think the best of his church then this form of words can be charitably reckoned to pronounce the Christian dogma of the Trinity. But at the level of straight, clear analysis of the form of words used, and the form of words compared with the original, this Acclamation is obviously a dumbing-down.

Why is it so?

It appears to be designed to obscure the clarity of the original Blessing that there are Three distinct Persons in the One Godhead. It does so by allowing the interpretation that there is One God who is One Person and who, as One Person, has three principal names – “Father, Son and Holy Spirit”. We all are perhaps aware that various alternatives to Trinitarian Theism were taught in the Episcopal Church (and liberal Churches) after World War II and that amongst these were forms of Unitarianism and Panentheism(= the world is in God). The force of the colon in the first line of this 1967 formula is to offer the possibility that “God” equals “Father, Son and Holy Spirit”. If the first line had been, “Blessed be God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”, then the meaning would have been clearly Trinitarian Theism, but the progressive liberals were not happy with such clarity. They preferred to allow for a variety of possibilities for they saw the dogma of the Trinity from patristic times as a kind of hellenization and corruption of the simple Gospel of Jesus.

It is worthy of note that for the last decade and more many progressive liberal parishes in the ECUSA have changed line 1 to be, “Blessed be God: Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier,” which is clearly a form of Unitarianism.

It is also worthy of note that in the Catechism of the same prayer book (see page 852) the answer to the question,” What is the Trinity?” is as follows: “The Trinity is one God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” Note again the use of the colon, suggesting that the one God has three Names or three Modes of being. The Commission could have given as the answer, “The Trinity is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God.”

If there is one area of Christian use of words where great care and precision is necessary, it is surely the area of the way we speak of and address The Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, Three Persons One Godhead! Here dumbing-down and carelessness are nearly unforgivable!

I suggest that those who must use the 1979 texts say: “Blessed be God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” in order to make clear they do accept the teaching of the Bible and of the Dogma of the ecumenical councils of the Early Church.

The modern R C Mass begins, “In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” making clear that there are Three Persons of the One Godhead. The people respond, “Amen.”

(For the history of and the doctrinal decrees of the Seven Ecumenical Councils, see Peter Toon, Yesterday, Today and Forever. Jesus Christ and the Holy Trinity in the Teaching of the Seven Ecumenical Councils, 1996, 224 pages paperback. Officially out of print but obtain a copy for $10.00 by e mailing, thomascranmer2000@yahoo.com )

September 20, 2005 Peter Toon