mission and govern-
THE FATE OF
rethinking, but ordaining women is legiti-
ance.
COMMUNION
mate (though he supports modest freedom
Butler deals more
The Agony of Anglicanism and
of conscience and dignity of diverse wit-
briefly, but effec-
the Future of a Global Church
ness). Turner, a ‘staunch, even fierce’ sup-
tively, with the most
Ephraim Radner and Philip
porter of women’s ordination, seems more
substantial among
Turner
aware of the problems it poses for episco-
the theological argu-
Eerdmans, 320pp, hbk
pal collegiality.
ments which support
978 080283282 5, £17·99
At the book’s heart is Turner’s evocation
the Tradition which is of an Anglican ethos in which free and
rooted in the example The crisis in the Anglican Com- open theological debate is combined with
of the Lord. Here she munion – the playing out on a identifiable theological content. Author-
writes in answer to the global stage of a struggle within ity is not located in a centralized papacy,
objection ‘All the bap- the Episcopal Church (TEC) – has a confession of faith or private judge-
tized act in persona prompted these eleven essays by ment, but instead the limits of diversity are
Christi’: two American authors. Philip judged against ‘the witness of Holy Scrip-
The magisterium consistently underlines Turner explains that in America, where ture, apprehended in the common life and
the priority of the priest’s sacramental rela- churches became denominations, each worship of the Church’. Scripture is to be
tionship with Christ… The male priest gives occupying a niche in the religious market, read and interpreted in communion, and
visibility to the presence of Christ ‘facing’ TEC represents a liberal but liturgical at the heart of Anglican life is its ‘ordered
the Church as he renews sacramentally the option, alternative to the perceived dogma- reading…in the context of ancient forms of
once-for-all sacrifice of the cross in the midst tism and moralism of Roman Catholicism worship…overseen by a unified episcopate’.
of an organically structured, internally dif- and Evangelical Protestantism. It exempli- As Turner stresses, godliness – as described
ferentiated priestly community. Only then, fies in an extreme form the temptation to in Ephesians 4 – is essential for life in com-
and on this account, does the priest act in all American denominations to conform to munion. (The failure of communion, in the
persona Ecclesiae, facing the Father. ‘Head- the surrounding culture of liberal individu- Anglican Communion as in the Episcopal
ship’ in Catholic ecclesiology is not the same alism, in which all have a right to pursue Church, is a failure of love, calling for peni-
as ‘leadership’ or ‘presidency’; it is a theo- their personal preferences. TEC’s working tence – aptly expressed in the Litany at the
logical and not a ‘parliamentary’ concept. theology is now one of divine acceptance, recent Primates Meeting.)
If the priest acts first in persona Ecclesiae… focusing on the incarnation (as a manifesta- Turner reviews the two Anglican
the Church’s role is not differentiated from tion of God’s love) to the exclusion of cross reports on communion: the Virginia
Christ’s; the one is collapsed into the other. and resurrection. God accepts and affirms Report (commissioned by the 1988 Lam-
There is no symbolic differentiation, no sac- us as we are, so we have no need of conver- beth Conference in response to the pro-
ramental symbolization of the ‘two in one sion, redemption or raising to new life. We posed consecration of a woman bishop in
flesh’ of the New Covenant. should accept and affirm each other, practis- America) and the Windsor Report (com-
There is much to digest in that dense ing inclusive justice and radical hospitality missioned in response to the consecration
paragraph, and much to applaud; the ref- (e.g. giving the unbaptized communion). of a non-celibate gay bishop in America).
erence to Headship should certainly be Christ is a way, not the way. The King- Though positive about both, especially
helpful to evangelicals in the Church of dom is equated with social justice (hence Windsor, he is not uncritical. Virginia
England. The point which Butler is always Mrs Schori’s fixation on the millennium presents an idealized view of communion
careful to stress is that the authenticity of development goals). All this is believed to which pays insufficient attention to the
the male-only priesthood does not depend be the Gospel, so change is furthered not Fall, sees conflict as resulting from social
on such arguments (for that, the Church by debate but by prophetic action – such change rather than sin, and proposes solu-
turns only to the mind and example of as Vicky Gene Robinson’s election, confir- tions that are similarly secular in nature, he
Christ), but may be illuminated by them. mation and consecration as Bishop of New
Butler ends her book with a considera- Hampshire.
tion of the teaching of Ordinatio Sacerdota- The resulting crisis presents TEC with a
NEW AUTHORS
lis in the light of doctrine of development. choice between its denominational niche
It is encouraging for the editor of Conse- and full participation in a worldwide com-
WANTED
crated Women? to note that she ends as we munion. Ephraim Radner points to the
If you are
did, with Newman’s criteria for ‘testing’ link between heresy and schism in the
looking for a publisher
whether a particular development is, or is New Testament. Orthodoxy is inseparable
not, authentic. For Butler, there is no doubt. from communion, in which truth is dis-
for your book we can help
The ordination of women to the priest- cerned through conservative instruments
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hood – and she has the Anglican Com- which take both history and change seri-
munion as a worked example of the thesis ously. America lacks a rooted conservative Hallmark Press Ltd
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Quality & Distinction
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34 Lambton Ct,
will change. As this lucid companion to its to communal constraints. Peterlee SR8 1NG
teaching concludes, the consequences of To Radner, homosexual practice is the
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erance of divorce and remarriage requires
April 2007
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newdirections
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