A discussion Starter
In order to gain a Christian mindset, the Church has always insisted that new members must know The Creed (what Christians believe, teach and confess), The Commandments (how Christians live before God and with each other) and The Lord’s Prayer (whom they worship and how). Thus these form the basic content of all true Catechisms – see the Catechism in the classic Book of Common Prayer (1662/1928) for example, and the official Roman Catholic Catechism of 2000.
At a very basic level, the content of the Creed, Commandments and Lord’s Prayer can be taught wholly in the positive mode – that is, without mentioning any alternative forms of Creed, Morality or Prayer that press for acceptance in the local context, culture and Zeitgeist. However, very soon in any catechizing the distinction has to be made, at least for some people, with respect to “Who is God?” between Trinitarian Theism on the one hand and the alternative doctrines of God including those within pantheism, panentheism and process theology (all of which have made deep inroads into the mainline churches of the USA and Europe, and without which there would not be feminist and liberationist theology). Likewise, with respect to “Who is Jesus?”, very soon the received orthodox doctrine that he is the only begotten Son of the Father, One Person made known in two natures (divine and human), has to be distinguished from the alternatives which are found in the theology and liturgies of the mainline churches (e.g., adoptionism).
If we are to pray meaningfully and fervently to the Father through the Son and with the Holy Spirit in corporate worship and private prayer, then we need to know to WHOM we pray. Thus it is very important to have right teaching concerning The Blessed Holy and Undivided Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and also concerning Jesus of Nazareth as the Incarnate Son of the Father, the Second Person of the Trinity. And, these days, one cannot have right teaching without knowing what other forms of teaching are common in the religious milieu of mainline religion. For, apparently and very regrettably, the received orthodoxy, based solidly on the Bible, and as set forth by the Ecumenical Councils and expounded by the Fathers, and then received, confirmed and expounded by both Catholics and Protestants in the period of the Reformation, is now a minority position in the mainline churches both in their doctrinal expositions and in their public worship.
In fact, the various powerful liberationist movements that have been absorbed by the mainline churches since the 1960s could not have been received without the churches accepting as permissible new forms of theology concerning “Who is God?, Who is Jesus? and What is salvation?” -- I refer of course to the impact of the feminist, “Gay” and “rights” movements.
Thus it would seem that it is impossible to take catechumens and enquirers very far these days into the depth of the divine Revelation recorded in Holy Scripture, without taking time to show where the received orthodoxy based upon the Bible differs from the forms of doctrine popular in the US mainline churches, not least the ECUSA.
Not that to state such a method is anything new. The Nicene Creed in its original form, first stated the orthodox doctrine of the identity of Jesus and his relation to the Father and then it anathematized heretics. Here is the final paragraph of the Creed in modern English:
And those who say “there one was when he [the Son] was not”, and “before he was begotten he was not”, and that he came to be from things that were not, or from another essence or substance, affirming that the Son of God is subject to change or alteration – these the catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes.
Note that it is the heretics who teach the heresies which deny that the Son is truly eternal and truly of the same Being, Deity and Divinity as the Father, that are put under the ban!
In AD 325 one could not truly teach the basics of Trinitarianism without facing the major heresies of the time (e.g. Arianism) and showing where they were wrong. This is why the later Creed, called The Athanasian Creed, is so clear in what it affirmed and what is set aside or denied – and why it has been hated by those who think that it is possible only to teach the positive (the PECUSA/ECUSA most regrettably rejected it in 1789 and it was never placed for use in the American BCP).
Today there are those who believe that the churches should attempt to teach only what may be called the positive (as perhaps is the method used in Alpha Courses); but it would seem that there can be no true instruction these days in the Faith once delivered to the saints unless it is also pointed out what this implies in terms of rejection of powerful contemporary alternatives. And the reason is obvious – the alternatives are the common or normal statements of faith or expression of faith in liturgy in the mainline churches!
The tag, “the law of praying is the law of believing,” has been a most successful way in the mainline churches to subvert received biblically-based doctrine and to introduce novelty in faith and practice wrapped in God-language. New doctrine placed in new liturgies has been introduced into the churches and by using the new services over time the churches come to believe, teach and confess the new doctrine. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the ECUSA since it introduced its Book of varied services and varied doctrine in 1979.
I remain amazed that those who claim to be “orthodox” and oppose the “revisionism” of the leaders of the ECUSA still feel confident to use its official liturgy, even when they leave the same “apostate” (in their judgment) Church. For if ever there was a liturgy put together in order to seek to change the faith and morality of a church it was that which is now called by the ECUSA “The BCP 1979”! (see further M.C.Burson, ed., Worship points the Way (New York, 1981) and the essay by Dr Urban T Holmes.)
Let us teach and receive the biblically, orthodox Faith joyfully, carefully and reverently and, as we do so, let us not be afraid to note and reject those forms of doctrine and morality which seem to subvert it!
[Read for more detail on the 1979 book of varied services and varied doctrine, Neither Orthodoxy Nor a Formulary by Louis Tarsitano & Peter Toon from www.anglicanmarketplace.com or 1 800 727 1928’ visit also www.episcopalian.org/pbs1928 ]
Addendum:
There is a group in the ECUSA calling itself the Via Media, and it was formed in response to the formation of the ACNetwork. Its goal is to counter the spreading of the truth about ECUSA's deviations from traditional doctrine. The name is intentionally deceptive co-opting of the classical via media represented by the Anglican faith, and this unfortunately fools the inattentive or ignorant into conferring a legitimacy which does not exist. It claims to seek unity, but unity at the expense of received Truth & Orthodoxy of faith and morals; claiming diversity, but only of the one-way variety which rejects orthodoxy and traditionalism. Illustrative web site URLs:
http://www.viamediausa.org/
http://www.cesld.org/viamediausa/
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_34065_ENG_HTM.htm
The Revd Dr Peter Toon March 6, 2006
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