What the Thunder Said...

Reading: Ridderbos, Coming of the Kingdom
Enjoying: vanilla ice cream
Listening: actually, not much lately. A bit of the Foo...

Just wanted to keep you posted on the nice conversation developing with Nigel. After wondering about the nature of being Anglican and its implications of holding to confessional identity, Nigel has some great thoughts in the comments. Choice quotes from the comments:

...communion with Canterbury is clearly accidental to the Anglican identity. And clearly ... unity with Canterbury is simply a pragmatic, rather than an essential, symbol of unity. If Canterbury has abandoned either the symbols (which it has not) or the doctrine expressed by those symbols (which it effectively has), then faithful Anglicans, to remain truly Anglican, must ironically enough separate themselves from a Babylonian Antichrist masquerading in English vestments.

...Reformed and Presbyterian denominations [show a] quicker willingness to separate and split themselves due to doctrinal variance on a very nuanced plane of debate, whereas Anglicanism has tried to maintain ecclesiastical unity despite, at times, overwhelming disagreements about some core issues... I don't think that it is sufficiently catholic to get together for NAPARC conferences or joint OPC-PCA picnics: what good reason can there be for these branches of Christ's visible church to be separated? Unity between these factions (I know it's a strong word) must be pursued... As Anglicans, we need to see our identity much more closely identified with a common kerygma (proclamation), and not just a common table, and we need to strengthen the force of our ecclesiastical discipline as well as unity.

What parts are correct, and what needs fine-tuning? Where are areas of ecumenicity that still need to be developed? Anglicans as well as others are invited to lend their voice to the discussion!

Labels: theology