On the Articles: Article XXXV

Harvest Thanksgiving

O ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who crownest the year with thy goodness, and hast given unto us the fruits of the earth in their season: Give us grateful hearts, that we may unfeignedly thank thee for all thy loving-kindness, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity

O ALMIGHTY and most merciful God, of thy bountiful goodness keep us, we beseech thee, from all things that may hurt us; that we, being ready both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things that thou wouldest have done; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

XXXV. Of the Homilies
The second Book of Homilies, the several titles whereof we have joined under this Article, doth contain a godly and wholesome Doctrine, and necessary for these times, as doth the former Book of Homilies, which were set forth in the time of Edward the Sixth; and therefore we judge them to be read in Churches by the Ministers, diligently and distinctly, that they may be understanded of the people.
Of the Names of the Homilies
1 Of the right Use of the Church                        11 Of Alms-doing
2 Against Peril of Idolatry                                  12 Of the Nativity of Christ
3 Of repairing and keeping clean of Churches   13 Of the Passion of Christ
4 Of good Works: first of Fasting                       14 Of the Resurrection of Christ
5 Against Gluttony and Drunkenness                 15 Of the worthy receiving the
6 Against Excess of Apparel                                    Sacrament of the Body of Christ
7 Of Prayer                                                          16 Of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost
8 Of the Place and Time of Prayer                      17 For the Rogation-days
9 That Common Prayers and Sacraments ought 18 Of the State of Matrimony
    to be ministered in a known tongue                19 Of Repentance
10 Of the reverend Estimation of God’s Word   20 Against Idleness
                                                                            21 Against Rebellion

It would seem appropriate on this Harvest Thanksgiving for reflecting on the treasure both of the Articles of Religion in general and of the Homilies in particular for explaining the mind of the Reformers and the ideals of Anglicanism to which we are aspire. One of the difficulties of Christianity in general is that while many would accept, in some form or another, the authority of Holy Scripture over the faith, the Holy Scriptures are not always explicitly clear in all circumstances. Much like the Scriptures, the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal, the three Anglican Formularies, are not always clear, but the Homilies expand on a number of doctrines providing clarity in a way which was intended to be presented to the people throughout the year so not only the priests and bishops of the Church would know and understand, but that the people would as well. They are consistent with the principle of Article XXIV and explicitly stated in the Article when it says that the purpose of the Book of Homilies is that they be reach in Church so that the people can understand.

This speaks to a broader principle that Christians should know their faith. They should do so by being able to follow the mass, by being able to know the Scriptures and by being able to understand the doctrines of the Church that they worship in. These concepts seem common sense and indeed it would be quite unusual in a modern context for them to be ignored, though interestingly there is a bit of a reality where the Anglican Church of Canada falls short.

For example, what is the Anglican Church of Canada’s position on abortion? This question comes under scrutiny owing to the United States where a number of clergy of The Episcopal Church have made headlines for blessing abortion clinics and their work. While the abortion issue in the United States is roundly political, it is less so in Canada where the matter only rarely makes public headlines, with proponents of legalized abortion having effectively won the battle in the eighties. The Anglican Church of Canada has remained silent on this issue. It ultimately recognized the secular ‘right to abortion’ which had been proclaimed by the Supreme Court of Canada, but affirmed rights for the unborn. The refusal of the Church to speak to the theological rationale for such a position leads to ambiguity on other areas, such as the current political debate over assisted suicide.

A second benefit of the homilies is that they help to provide significantly more context and explanation for the Articles and principles of Anglicanism which have come under attack by those who say that the historic Anglican formularies have no meaning today because we cannot possibly know what was intended by them when they were written, and thus have no way of applying their doctrines today. Such arguments have been made in Canada with respect to the 1893 Solemn Declaration, and similarly argued by those in respect of clerical subscription to the Articles of Religion.

While the Homilies are no longer read in Church, there is no reason they could not be read, or presented as part of a teaching course after the mass. There is similarly no reason, particularly in this age of technology where the Homilies are a google search away for free, any lay person could not read them for their own personal edification.

In an age where religion is under attack, is it sufficient to have faith, or should we be able to explain our faith? Should we be exploring the ways in which our faith intersects with all aspects of our lives or is it sufficient to say “I believe in Christ’s redemption of my sins, and that is enough.” When we hold a limited view of faith, it contributes to many of the problems the Church is facing now over revised doctrine. The debate over same-sex marriage is one in many good-hearted Christians who are theologically illiterate fall prey to secular arguments simply because no one has made the effort to follow the principle of this Article and educate them on the meaning of the ‘wholesome’ doctrines of Anglicanism.

This similarly contributes to those who fall away from the faith because they view the Church’s counter-cultural actions as being indefensible or simply rooted in some kind of historic backwardness that will never change. They call the Church to “get with the times” and when it doesn’t, they leave. The solution is not to change. The solution is not to look to some new method of congregational development that will integrate and retain parishioners. The solution is to return to the principles of the English Reformation that brought us these articles and remember that the bishops, the clergy and people all need to understand their faith if they are going to be able to give a defence of the hope that is within them.

On the Articles

The Sunday called Sexagesima

O LORD God, who seest that we put not our trust in any thing that we do: Mercifully grant that by thy power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion have been referenced several times on this blog, because ultimately they are a key component of Anglicanism. They are not a confessional statement. Unlike continental Protestant reformers who drafted catechetical statements of belief, with supporting scriptural citations. These statements, while in ways being an anti-Roman Catholic statement in suggesting that the Roman Catholics were not following Biblical doctrine, were ultimately about positive statements of belief to help define the adherents of that particular denomination in contrast to other Christian groups, Roman Catholics and other Protestants, that surrounded them. In England, however, there tended to be less plurality, with the Church of England being the established and only Church in England until the instability of the English Civil War, and the establishment of the principles of religious toleration. With the back and forth, particularly during the earlier years of the English Reformation with the reign of Queen Mary I, there was also a practical need to establish, in positive and negative statements, how the Church of England differed from traditional Roman Catholic doctrine. With so much back and forth, some clergy were confused as to what they were to be promoting from the pulpit.

Many Anglicans today discount the Articles as mere historical documents, from a time and place so far removed from our own as to be inapplicable to modern life. Many of those same arguments are made about the authority of Holy Scripture by non-Christians. Anglican priests once were required to subscribe to the Articles upon their ordination, but are no longer required to do so directly, however in the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada, of which the Diocese of Calgary is a part, deacons and priests are required to swear an Oath of Assent prior to ordination reading as follows:

I, A.B. do solemnly make the following declaration: I assent to the Solemn Declaration adopted by the first General Synod in 1893 (as printed in the Book of Common Prayer), and to the Book of Common Prayer, and of the ordering of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons; I believe the doctrine of the Anglican Church of Canada as therein set forth to be agreeable to the Word of God; and in Public Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, I will use the form in the said book prescribed and none other, except so far as shall be ordered by lawful authority.

In a similar way, the Canons of the Anglican Church of Canada include the Articles through the same form of the Solemn Declaration in limiting the authority of General Synod to legislate only within the parameters of the Declaration.

While most Anglicans may no longer be familiar with the Thirty-nine Articles (they are not printed in the Book of Alternative Services, for instance), the reality is that they remain relevant, and ostensibly priests and deacons still subscribe to them in certain ways and they still have a limiting influence on the parameters of what the General Synod itself may legislate.

While it is true that modern Canada is quite different from the era in which the Articles were formulated (Canada itself did not exist then!), that does not in and of itself make the Articles irrelevant. The same faithful interpretation and application of Holy Scripture is needed to seek to continue to apply the Thirty-nine Articles to our faith today as we seek to live out our Anglican heritage in a world far removed from 17th century England. To quote JI Packer, “I believe that facing and dialoguing with the Thirty-nine Articles will help Anglicans to re-learn and re-apply some basic Biblical truths to which Anglican identity is bound up.”

Gerald Bray argues that the three traditional Anglican Formularies each sought to articulate the foundations of Anglicanism. The Articles of Religion articulate its doctrine. The Prayer Book articulates its devotional life. The Ordinal articulates its discipline, discussing the role and responsibilities of ordained clergy. Today, however, some of these foundations have shifted. In Canada, for instance, the Ordinal and Prayer Book are rarely consulted, cited or viewed as normative or even necessarily authoritative, having been supplanted by the modern Book of Alternative Services, with increasing pressure today for further revisions. It makes it much easier for those who seek to reshape the foundations of Canadian Anglicanism to suggest that The Book of Common Prayer 1662 and Ordinal are no longer authoritative because they can point to successors. It is much harder to do that in the case of the Articles—the doctrines of the Church—because there has been no modern alternative to the Articles of Religion presented or authorized in any of the other prayer book revisions that have occurred or which are slated to occur.

Broadly speaking the Articles are organized in three ways. The first section deals with fundamental Christian dogmas: the Trinity, the divinity and humanity of Christ, etc. These are Catholic beliefs, and beliefs on which Anglican Catholicity hinges. The largest section deals with areas in which the Church of England differed from Rome. In some cases, such as the rejection of Transubstantiation, this remains an issue of Catholicity, in other ways this also speaks to certain secondary matters which may or may not be particular to Anglicanism, and more often show the influence of the Continental Reformers. The final, smaller, section deals with issues particular to the Church of England especially and its relationship to the state and English society more generally. These Articles, however, still remain broadly applicable outside of England and help to understand the way in which the Church of England and Anglican Christians were viewed to relate to state and society more broadly.

The heart of the Articles, in describing the doctrines and values of the Church, is that it allows Anglican Christians to hold conviction in their beliefs. In an age when there is a muddling of what Christians believe, the Articles hold the answer. In an age when Christians are being challenged from secular beliefs and changing societal mores, the Articles are a firm foundation which Anglicans can study, learn and inwardly digest, affirming what their beliefs are.

They remain a way of grounding faith in the Truth they proclaim, in an age when many Christians are tempted to simply float between whatever sounds comfortable. The desire to make our faith comfortable is made possible when there is no firm foundation of faith. A person can enter into an Anglican parish, worship there, be baptised there, receive the Eucharist there and die there without ever having Anglican beliefs explained to them. There is nothing in the main service book used in Canada, the BAS, to explain what all of those beliefs are. Recapturing the strength of the doctrinal foundations from the Articles is one clear way of grounding the faith of Anglicans throughout the world.

The next few weeks will begin a series exploring the meaning of each of the Articles, in an effort to provide a modern and practical understanding of what we as Anglicans have historically, and ought to continue, to profess.

On the Three Streams of Anglicanism

The Epiphany of our Lord

O GOD, who by the leading of a star didst manifest thy only-begotten Son to the Gentiles: Mercifully grant, that we, who know thee now by faith, may be led onward through this earthly life, until we see the vision of thy heavenly glory; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ, who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end. Amen.

The First Sunday after Epiphany in Octave

O LORD, we beseech thee mercifully to receive the prayers of thy people which call upon thee; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Just as there are multiple forms of Churchmanship among Anglicans, there have developed over times a number of primary forms of characterizing Anglicans themselves outside of the Broad Church/liberal or conservative/traditionalist dichotomies which can realistically be applied to any Christian tradition or denomination. Among Anglicans, there are generally viewed to be Evangelical, Catholic and Spirit-filled or Charismatic Anglicans.

Evangelical Anglicans hold to the supreme authority of Holy Scripture, and much like evangelical protestants, hold that all teachings and beliefs are to be tested against the teachings of Holy Scripture alone.

Catholic Anglicans tend to hold their authority in the universality of the early Church. The Catholic creeds, the ecumenical councils of the Church prior to its division, and the writings of the early church fathers are all held to be of certain levels of authority, though ultimately they are never held in opposition to the Scriptures because their acceptance has always been predicated on their apostolic witness which is the same witness recorded in the Holy Scriptures.

It should be noted at this point that Evangelical and Catholic Anglicans should not be confused with Anglo-Catholics or Low Churchmen or High Churchmen. These labels refer more to theology and view rather than specifically to liturgical and ritual preferences. It is entirely possible for there to be an extremely high church evangelical who prefers the use of incense based on its Biblical use rather than its historic use in the Church and ascribes to it a different meaning than might typically be associated with its use from a Catholic viewpoint. Similarly, it is entirely possible to be a Low Churchman Catholic Anglican, who eschews ritual as being unhelpful to personal worship and devotion of God, but who holds a Catholic viewpoint and mind with respect to doctrine and theology, and even other elements of personal piety.

Spirit-filled or Charismatic Anglicans place a greater emphasis on the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Such an Anglican is more likely to look to exercise gifts of the Spirit, in contrast to Evangelicals and Catholics who might view the charisms described in the Scriptures as having largely ceased at some point in history. Again this openness to the work of the Holy Spirit does not suggest that the Holy Spirit will over-rule the Scriptures, but rather suggests a different emphasis and lens by which the Scriptures might sometimes be examined or applied.

There is something helpful about these descriptions at times. When they are universally held they can be useful descriptors of theology when two Anglicans meet one another, or perhaps to describe the general trends of a particular parish. Yet the reality is that Anglicanism requires all three.

In order to be Evangelical, you must be Spirit-filled. In order to be Catholic, you must be Spirit-filled. Christ tells us in the Scriptures he will send the Holy Spirit, this coming of the Holy Spirit is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles on the Day of Pentecost, and subsequent to that, a number of the Biblical writers, and especially St Paul, write about the nature of Spiritual gifts and how they are to be exercised. You cannot be an Evangelical Anglican without being Spirit-filled. Similarly, how many of the Fathers of the Church wrote on the importance of the Holy Spirit? The role of the Holy Spirit is prevalent throughout their writings, empowering and strengthening Christians through the ages. Even within the Book of Common Prayer itself, the Holy Spirit’s role is quite evident. It cannot be ignored. To be Catholic, to present one’s own mind as being in line with the mind of the Church, one must be Spirit-filled.

The reverse holds true as well, in that it is not sufficient simply to accept that the Holy Spirit can influence us and empower us, for we are also told in Holy Scripture to be wary of spiritual warfare and evil spirits who would seek to corrupt us. Without the canon of Holy Scripture to test against, it is difficult to maintain orthodoxy when immersed in the Spirit. It is far to easy to claim something as the Spirit’s will when it is at best our own will. It is our Catholicity that similarly informs how we interpret Scripture, and as such prevents us from applying our own desires and opinions to the interpretation of Scripture, reading into it, the technical term for which is eisegesis, our own meanings.

Finally, to be Evangelical you must be Catholic, for that same reason. You cannot hold the Scriptures alone, indeed it is the Catholicity of the Church which upholds the Canon and affirms it. Why is Romans a book of the Bible? Because it was held to be Apostolic and inspired, and was received by the whole Church as such. How is it interpreted rightly? Look to the Father’s of the church and those who have succeeded them in expounding upon and articulating their right beliefs. The reverse holds true as well. You cannot be Catholic without being Evangelical for the same reason. The Canon of Scripture itself, the Bible, is a central part of Catholicity.

These three streams of Anglicanism may hold a certain value as descriptors, but we must never look on them as being separate streams held in tension among one another, but rather three ways of looking towards God’s truth, that emphasize different parts of that truth while not excluding or ignoring any of that truth as seen from other perspectives.

When you ask someone what the purpose of evangelism is, the primary lens through which they view their faith will affect their response. Someone who is Evangelical is more likely to respond in terms of sharing God’s love with others and bringing them to knowledge of that love itself. Someone who is more Catholic minded may not have as enthusiastic a response, simply noting it is part of Christ’s great commission and that we, in faith, continue to evangelize in obedience to him. Someone who is Spirit-filled might similarly respond by discussing the charisms relating to evangelism and how we hold a responsibility to use those gifts.

All three responses are true, but to speak the whole truth, all three must be brought together and much like the Holy Trinity, where we must not distinguish the persons to the point we lose the oneness of God, we must not distinguish these three streams of Anglicanism to the point we lose the wholeness of our faith.

Wisdom of Saints: St Augustine of Hippo

Feast of Augustine, Doctor, Bishop of Hippo, Africa, 430

O GOD, who by thy Holy Spirit hast given unto one man a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge, and to another the gift of tongues: We praise thy Name for the gifts of grace manifested in thy servant Augustine, and we pray that thy Church may never be destitute of the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 St Augustine of Hippo is in Western Christianity the foremost among the saints in terms of his impact on Christian doctrine and understanding. Many of his writings survive, and his impact on modern Christian theology cannot be overstated.

St Augustine was born in 354 in Numidia (modern day Algeria), then part of the Roman province of Mauretania Caesariensis. His mother Monica was a Christian, however his father was a pagan. His mother sought to raise him as a Christian, and he received a Christian education. At the time, Baptism was often delayed until later in life, so despite some possible successes in his instruction in the Christian faith he was not baptised at that time. At the age of sixteen, seeing his successes in school, St Augustine’s father was determined to send him to Carthage for study in a career in forensics, however before he could be sent, sufficient money was needed to cover the expense and so St Augustine stayed idle in his home town for that year. It was during that year that his heart fell away from Christianity and he turned to vice. He was eventually sent to Carthage, but only continued in his exploration of the pleasures offered by pagans in that larger city. Eventually he took a mistress who bore him a son at the age of eighteen.

St Augustine had a great love of philosophy and was a seeker of truth. He turned to different philosophies and religions in an effort to seek ultimate truth. He became a Manichaean, drawn to its allegorical symbolism and promise of truth, in contrast to what he considered the vulgar and low-level, perhaps even ridiculous at times, Christian Scriptures.

He was still a student in Carthage when he converted to Manichaeism, and devoted his considerable talents to the understanding and promotion of this new philosophy. He read all their writings and contributed his own thoughts. As his intellectual talents continued to develop, he turned his career paths, returned to his home town of Tagaste and taught grammar, then returned to Carthage to teach rhetoric.

It was during this time that he began to have doubts about Manichaeism, as its teachings had failed to bear the promised fruit of understanding he sought, and he began to hold intellectual objections to various elements of its doctrines. He had spent nearly a decade devoting himself to the sect before ultimately becoming disillusioned.

At the age of 28, St Augustine was determined to leave Africa and make his fortune in Rome. He travelled, under cover of night in an effort to leave his mother behind, as she sought to follow him to his distress. In Italy, he opened his own school, but after being defrauded of tuition fees was forced to seek a position at another school, and ended up teaching in Milan, where he first came to meet Milan’s bishop, St Ambrose. In 386, St Augustine converted to Christianity, chiefly for three reasons: St Ambrose’s ability to answer his questions and his growing admiration for the Milanese bishop, and more importantly, God had touched his heart drawing him back to Christ whom he had borne with him ever since his early Christian education. He was baptised Easter 387, and devoted himself thoroughly to applying his intelectual gifts to the understanding an explication of Christianity.

He returned to Africa shortly after his baptism and was ordained a priest in 391 and consecrated Bishop of Hippo in 396. He would spend the rest of his life devoted to the shepherding of his flock and writing. While many of his works have disappeared, to this day over 100 books, 200 letters and 500 homilies survive, and the breadth of his theological work remains strongly influential, particularly in the Western church.

His first published Christian work is his Confessions, which reads as an outpouring of autobiographical penitence for his life up until its publication. The restlessness that led him on his quest for truth and the answer he found, is described therein: “for Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee.” Even from his earliest works it was clear that St Augustine had a deep and well-articulated understanding to the relationship between God and mankind.

In his works, St Augustine also published a number of propositions that he would later revise and reject in subsequent works. It was a sign of his humility that upon reflection and further study he was more than willing to admit to theological errors and repudiate the positions he had previously advocated.

In his multi-volume work Christian Doctrine, St Augustine can be seen laying some of the foundational theology for St Bernard of Clairvaux’s famous On Loving God. In it he discusses at length the need of man to love God and neighbour. St Augustine goes on to  write on the Order of Love stating:

No sinner is to be loved as a sinner; and every man is to be loved as a man for God’s sake; but God is to be loved for His own sake.  And if God is to be loved more than any man, each man ought to love God more than himself.  Likewise we ought to love another man better than our own body, because all things are to be loved in reference to God, and another man can have fellowship with us in the enjoyment of God, whereas our body cannot; for the body only lives through the soul, and it is by the soul that we enjoy God.

St Augustine was a strong advocate of Biblical literacy and after noting the Canon of Scripture, he calls on Christians to familiarize themselves with Scripture. This position would become less popular over time to the point where it became a major issue during the Reformation to once again allow Bibles to be published in vernacular such that those who were literate could read, and even those who were illiterate could at least understand when it was read to them. Interestingly, he advocates for the familiarity or memorization of Scripture for several reasons, including the fact that once someone is familiar with Scripture, they themselves can use the technique of employing clear passages to interpret more obscure passages, a common exegetical technique used by the Church Fathers in St Augustine’s day. In his own words:

For among the things that are plainly laid down in Scripture are to be found all matters that concern faith and the manner of life,—to wit, hope and love, of which I have spoken in the previous book.  After this, when we have made ourselves to a certain extent familiar with the language of Scripture, we may proceed to open up and investigate the obscure passages, and in doing so draw examples from the plainer expressions to throw light upon the more obscure, and use the evidence of passages about which there is no doubt to remove all hesitation in regard to the doubtful passages.

St Augustine’s clear articulation as God as love and Christ as our hope throughout Christian Doctrine, makes it an extremely influential theological work, and throughout Western Christianity, Augustinian theology continues to inform the works of countless Christians. For millions of Christians, St Augustine’s words succinctly characterize their continued faith: “To fall in love with God is the greatest of all romance — to seek Him the greatest of all adventures, to find Him the greatest human achievement.”

On Endurance

The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve: Pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen.

For the Feast of St Bernard of Clairvaux this past Thursday, one of the assigned daily readings in the lectionary was from St Paul’s letter to the Romans, Chapter 5. It is a well-known passage where St Paul tells us:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Rm 5. 1-5)

Suffering, whether for our faith like the martyrs of the Church or simply in our daily lives, is a part of the human experience. As Christ was incarnate into the world by God, suffering was brought forth by man through sin. The question of why God allows suffering is one that has been one that generates countless theological tomes, debates, arguments and is intractably linked to deep felt pain and hurts, which many Christians often seek to blame on God.

From Anglican scholars like Bishop NT Wright to Pope St John Paul II, Christ is at the centre of a theology of suffering. As NT Wright notes, Christ’s suffering on the cross subverts expectations of the Jews (in terms of the Messiah coming to instantly liberate Israel from its oppressors) just as we today would want God to act instantly to remedy humanity’s suffering (whether it be illness, hatred, natural disaster, religious persecution, etc). This was the central aspect of God’s salvation history for humanity. The long-term narrative by which God returns humanity to himself.

In his apostolic letter Salvifici Doloris, Pope St John Paul II goes further suggesting that the human experience of suffering is modelled in Christ’s suffering, and like Wright he notes that Christ’s life shows that our expectations and demands on God show a lack of complete understanding and knowledge of God, preventing us from ever having a more complete understanding of suffering than what we see in Christ’s life.

St Paul’s instructions can be seen in the Pope’s letter when he highlights the transformative nature of suffering. St John Paul II suggests in his letter that, “in suffering there is concealed
a particular power that draws a person interiorly close to Christ, a special grace.” To those who have endured, as St Paul says, they are transformed in character and brought to new hope in God.

It is this transformation that similarly highlights the reality of the link between a theology of suffering and a theology of healing. The theology of healing is linked strongly with soteriology, the theology of salvation. Salvation is, as NT Wright noted, the way in which God returns humanity to himself, the way in which the barrier of sin is eliminated. But if suffering relates to sin, then the elimination of suffering through healing is also strongly tied to salvation, and again to Christ.

Without a theology of suffering, therefore, we cannot have a full theology of healing; nor can our theology of salvation be fully realized. The two are linked in St Paul’s words, suffering leads to hope in God, the assurance of his love. In the lectionary, the lesson from Romans is tied to a reading from St John’s gospel:

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (St Jn 15. 9-11)

The link here is drawn again to the Father’s love, and joy. A theology of healing is ultimately countered to a theology of suffering in that it is God’s love that heals all suffering. Throughout the Bible, suffering is described as groaning. In captivity and oppression, God’s people groaned in their sufferings. God heard them. How much more does God groan for us to return to him? The ultimate expression of his love given. His son, made man, suffered with us, bore our sins and opened in his obedient sacrifice the love of God to be experienced by all.

There are profound theological points to be made from this initial reading. Long debates on the nature of God, creation and so much more. Yet what comfort is all of this objective analysis to someone in the midst of suffering? The wife whose husband is diagnosed with cancer. The father whose sun is severely injured in a motor vehicle collision.

It all comes back to Christ. Whatever the reasons why suffering is permitted to continue in this world, Christ shared in them. Christ suffered as all humans suffer, and for those living today suffered more physical pain and torment than most will likely see. He was obedient unto death so that he could become the Divine Physician. The healer who reconciles us all to God.

In our suffering we are called to turn to Christ; to seek God’s support and strength to endure. It is important to stress that in this endurance, it will not always mean an immediate end to suffering. In the case of illness, for instance, it does not mean divine healing. Christ is the Divine Physician not because his hands brought miraculous healing, but because it is through him that our souls are healed and we are restored to God. The strength to endure suffering, is what we pray for, and not simply an end to the suffering itself.

Through our endurance, through our prayers, we come to know God better, improving in us our character, the goodness and reflection of God seen in all humans who are made in his image.

Through that character we gain hope. Not hope in its modern sense of wishful thinking for something, but rather a wholehearted assurance and expectation of what is to come. If character is St Paul’s description of how we come to know God better and thus to be better qualified to act in a more God-like way, the hope we gain is the assurance of his love borne of the knowledge of him.

Even knowing this, in the midst of suffering it may not be enough. Our desire would be for God to immediately end that suffering. Sometimes we may even feel that because God did not prevent such suffering, his will is that it occurs to us. Why, God? What did I do to deserve this? Sometimes, it wont be enough. God’s perfection is beyond human understanding, and sometimes that means we cannot comprehend what is happening in our lives and why God has not intervened. Why God intercedes in certain cases for miraculous healing on an individual level, while genocides and the mass loss of life through natural disasters are allowed to occur. Even simply why God might intercede in one case and yet not another for two individuals afflicted with the same disease.

There is no real word of comfort, no simple and comforting explanation. These are questions that will only be answered through endurance, but what comfort there is can be known through the assurance that endurance leads to joy. God has promised, “I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow,” (Jer 31. 13b). This promise originally made to God’s people in captivity reminds us that through endurance of suffering, our tears will ultimately be turned to joy when, at the very least, we come into the fullness of God’s plan for reunion with us.

On Heresy

The Sixth Sunday after Trinity

O GOD, who hast prepared for them that love thee such good things as pass man’s understanding: Pour into our hearts such love toward thee, that we, loving thee above all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Discussions of theology, and how Anglicans have traditionally explored theology in order to ensure right belief, naturally brings to mind the question of what happens when theology, regardless of how it is done, leads to incorrect belief. In the history of the Church, when someone promotes these incorrect beliefs, it tends to be called heresy. This flippant use of the term heresy has a diluted its meaning somewhat however. In the early church, a distinction was drawn between what is merely false teaching, whether intentional or unintentional, and heresy.

In Holy Scripture, Christ himself spoke of false prophets who would distort his words. St Paul similarly echoed Christ’s several times in different epistles. II Peter specifically warns against false teachers and their teachings leading people astray. Throughout Scripture, we are warned that Christians must be on guard against those whose teachings seek to take us away from the Truth that had been revealed in Christ. In modern times, this would be viewed perhaps in terms of any teaching which corrupts Biblical truth and teaching.

To go from false teaching to heresy, there is an element of obstinacy in the face of correction, but more it is the subject matter of the false teaching that can push a false teaching into true heresy. Bishop Daniel Martins, commenting on some of the policies coming out of The Episcopal Church of the United States of America’s recent General Convention, suggested that a distinction must be drawn between that which is merely false teaching and that which is heresy.

To Bishop Martins, the distinction comes when the false teaching is against an article of the creeds. This follows other traditional definitions which have tended to provide for heresy as a public and obstinate denial of one or more of the essential doctrines of Christianity. These two definitions are entirely consistent as the creeds are what define the essentials of Christianity, though as has been previously discussed, encompasses more than just the creeds, but also the canon of scripture, the sacramental life of the church lived primarily through Baptism and the Eucharist, the three-fold order of ministry and the creeds. Bishop Martins here draws a narrower definition that focuses exclusively on the creeds.

The creeds ultimately are the standard of our faith. The Canon of Scripture tells us which books are divinely inspired and therefore, “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work,” (2 Tim 3. 16, 17) as St Paul tells us.

In the case of the Nicene Creed, it represents a working out of particular Christian doctrines in response to strong heresies, such as Arianism, which denied such core Christian doctrines as the Trinity.

For Bishop Martins, the issue was greater than just an individual false teacher, though. What must the response be when it is the church itself, though its liturgies, canons and practices, which promotes the heresy rather than simply a specific and individual false teacher? For Bishops, who are the guardians of teaching and doctrine in the church, to be the ones teaching it speaks to a problem of heresy through the core of the church to which they belong. In any tradition which maintains an ecclesiology of a visible church, as the Anglican Communion, Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church do, there are even greater complications.

When a church with an orthodox history falls into heresy, what obligation do individual Christians have to remain in communion with it? In his Epistle to the Galatians, St Paul tells the Galatians of a time when he was forced to rebuke St Peter who had, by the definition described here, fallen into heresy in his hypocrisy. St Peter had, when confronted with Judaisers who argued that Jewish Christians were free to believe in Christ as the Messiah but still needed to maintain the law including both the dietary restrictions and circumcision. This was viewed by Paul as backsliding and heresy. Had not Christ died for the justification of all believers? In Christ was the fulfilment of the Law. The Creed says Christ was incarnate and crucified for us and for our salvation. When St Peter accepted the Judaiser practice of maintaining the Law, he was at best saying, “Christ died for us, but just in case, let’s still follow the Law.” At worst it was a complete rejection of Christ’s nature and incarnate mission.

St Paul rebuked St Peter who accepted the rebuke and was restored to orthodoxy. What would happen if he had not? What would happen if a modern bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada, for example, were to profess that the Law must still be followed? Would it be necessary for other bishops to remove themselves from communion with that diocese if the heresy persisted?

Bishop Martins argues that when the heresy becomes systemic to the Church itself, it must persist in those heresies for over forty years before a faithful Christian is obligated not to be in communion with it. This does not, however, mean that a faithful Christian should not in all circumstances break communion with it before then. It is laudable to seek to remain in the communion, to correct or rebuke and hopefully encouraging those who also remain to see the errors being taught.

In chapter 14 of his epistle to the Romans, St Paul warns first not to pass judgement on fellow Christians if their weak is faith or strong, for it is the Lord’s right to pass judgement. He continues by famously writing that we should never place a stumbling block in front of another. In this same way, it may be necessary to remove ourselves from communion with a particular church which promotes a particular heresy in order to prevent it from becoming such a stumbling block.

That said, removal from communion is something that should not be undertaken lightly, and should not be something that one does on the basis of flippant motivations. Bishops are the anointed of God, and that anointing should never be forgotten. In many ways, the story of David is instructive in this regard. David had been anointed by God, through the Prophet Samuel, after one too many times, Saul had been disobedient. Later, David became friends with Saul but his great deeds caused him to receive greater praise than Saul. In Saul’s jealousy, he thought David meant to usurp him and tried to kill David several times, before eventually David was forced to flee. In the well-known story, David is on the run from Saul with a few companions, taking refuge in a cave. They are in a dark corner, and go unnoticed by Saul himself when he enters in order to rest from the afternoon sun, and falls asleep. His companions gesture to him that he ought to kill Saul, but David simply goes and cuts a corner off Saul’s robe. Then, after Saul wakes from his rest and leaves the cave, David follows him out and says:

Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Behold, David seeks your harm’? 10 Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you today into my hand in the cave. And some told me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not put out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.’ (1 Sam 24. 9, 10)

Saul then replies:

“Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. He said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil. And you have declared this day how you have dealt well with me, in that you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands. For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe? So may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. (1 Sam 24. 16-19)

In this same way, we ought to approach a Bishop, with hope that the respect that is shown for their anointing might give them pause to consider why their teachings are forcing Christians in good conscience to break communion with them.

In all things, the term heresy should not be used lightly, and it should never be used to reflect the idea of “those who disagree with me,” nor should mere disagreement, even over a matter of false teaching, ever be reason to break communion with other Christians.

On Theology

The Fifth Sunday after Trinity

GRANT O Lord, we beseech thee, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance, that thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The issue of Anglicanism and Same-Sex Marriage is once again front and centre. The US Supreme Court, in a civil ruling affecting the civil laws on marriage in the United States, and at the same time The Episcopal Church, the primary Anglican church in the United States had its triennial General Convention, which included a debate over the authorization of a revised rite for same-sex marriage. All of this has spilled over into Canada and elsewhere, including it must be noted non-Anglican traditions who have been compelled to respond to the development.

Metropolitan Tikhon of the Orthodox Church in America has perhaps had the best and most succinct response, in which he affirmed that the OCA has made, “issued a number of statements outlining, detailing and clarifying the teaching of our Holy Faith on this matter in light of challenges from our American society,” over the years, and:

The ruling does not change the teaching of the Church, but it does remind us of the need to be Christ-like in our dealings with everyone. The state has the responsibility to enact laws that protect the rights of each individual.  The Church, while it does not bless “same-sex marriages” or view them as sacramental, does see the image of Christ in every individual, and his or her worth in the eyes of the Lord Who died upon the Cross for our salvation.

This shows two important points. First, the statement reiterates the point that Church doctrine is not, and ought not to be, based on civil laws, such that this ruling (or the passage of the Marriage Act in 2004 in Canada) does not demand that the Church similarly make a change to its understanding of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. The second point is that while it does not mean doctrines or theologies of the Church must change, it may require that those same doctrines and theologies be applied in new ways that are adapted to the new realities of the society in which the Church exists.

This statement could well have been written by Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsay a few decades ago, but is contrasted heavily with more recent responses. Retired TEC bishop Gene Robinson suggested that, “all religions will be under more pressure now to get in lockstep with society.”

The idea that the Church must, at least in part, base its theology and doctrines on civil developments is completely alien to traditional Anglicanism and the Anglican way of “doing” theology.

The three-legged stool is one way Anglicans have traditionally viewed as the model by which we do theology. First, Holy Scripture, then reason, embodied in the writings of the Fathers and saints throughout the ages, and finally tradition, embodied in the Anglican formularies of the Book of Common Prayer, Ordinal and Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion. For Canadian Anglicans, the Solemn Declaration of 1893, which clergy subscribe to prior to ordination, explicitly requires that they submit to the formularies and Holy Scripture, so it is a canonical requirement in addition to simply being part of the Anglican tradition used by Anglicans everywhere.

In the Articles themselves, we are reminded of the primacy of Scripture. Article VI states, “Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.” They are the inspired word of God, and there is no better or more reliable source of information for us to turn to when seeking to establish or modify our theology or doctrines. For Anglicans, unlike Roman Catholics and the Orthodox, nothing can be taught as a requirement of the faith that cannot be proved by Holy Scripture.

Not all Scripture can be plainly interpreted, however. That is where the faculty of reason comes into play. Throughout the centuries, countless Christians have written and handed down homilies on the Scriptures and great works on theology. These works help us to understand the meaning behind Scripture as it has been understood by the Church throughout the centuries, and similarly how different doctrines of the church have been understood.

When we test a doctrine against Scripture, it can sometimes be simple enough to pick a few verses and claim they support the doctrine we are proposing, by virtue of presenting a skewed interpretation of Scripture. When we test against Scripture and then the view of the Church Fathers, this type of skewed interpretation is no longer possible, because we do not simply test it against the plain words of Holy Scripture itself, but also the accepted orthodox interpretations of Holy Scripture held throughout the centuries.

Finally, there is the tradition of the Church. The reality of Christianity is that there are many practices and views which have been held only in particular times and in particular places. When Anglicans do theology, therefore, it is essential that doctrines also be tested against the Anglican formularies. One might be able to find an understanding of the Eucharist that does not contradict Holy Scripture, and may even find support with one or more of the Church Fathers, or at least does not conflict with their writing, but if it remains in conflict with the Book of Common Prayer, Ordinal or Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion then it remains outside the parameters of acceptable Anglican Doctrine.

An example of this might be the doctrine of transubstantiation as held by the Roman Catholic Church. One can argue in favour of it from Scripture, and a number of saints throughout history have held to doctrines consistent with transubstantiation, but Article XXVIII argues that, “The Body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten, in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith,” and that transubstantiation, “hath given occasion to many superstitions.”

As we face increasing pressure for the Church to modernise her doctrines, to try to get in lockstep with society, as Bishop Gene Robinson put it, it is an important reminder that Church doctrine is based on God’s will and God’s law, not on the rules of society.

On Post Traumatic Theology

The Fourth Sunday after Trinity

O GOD, the protector of all that trust in thee, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us thy mercy; that, thou being our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we finally lose not the things eternal. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ’s sake our Lord. Amen.

Your faith is too safe.

Safety in church is something a few people have been pondering in light of the horrific events in the United States which saw several Christians gunned down at bible study. It should, however, be noted that while they were Christians and the murders occurred while they were at Bible study in their parish home, the attacks seem to be motivated entirely by their race, rather than their faith.

In Canada, our faith is too safe, but not because these types of racially motivated mass murders are not common here (though, the École Polytechnique Massacre would be an example of something similar), nor because we face the type of persecution Christians in the Middle East or in China now face due to oppressive governments.

While it may miss the greater point over racial violence in the United States, it does raise an interesting subject for discussion. In the Early Church, Church was the people. Christians met in private and often in some amount of secrecy due to persecution, either from Jewish officials or state officials. Jewish officials were concerned with their view that Christian teaching would be subversive both to their religious orthodoxy and their temporal authority in their society. The Roman persecutions tended to be based more on concerns that Christians were subversive to state authority, due to their unwillingness to worship the Emperor, and also was reinforced by the secrecy surrounding certain Christian beliefs and practices.

In Canada, the state guarantees our freedom of religious belief as well as our physical safety. We are protected against government persecutions and private persecution on the basis of our faith. Yet one interesting further difference in this situation is that none of what Christians practice or preach is viewed as threatening or subversive to the state or society in the way that it was in the time of the Early Church.

Christians are called to live a life of truth and grace, in the image of Christ’s example, but despite the repeated warnings in Scripture that we are not meant to be a part of the world (eg. Jn 15. 19; Jn 16. 7-11; Rm 12. 2; 1 Cor 1. 20; etc) or take our teachings from the world, many Christians seem reticent today to rock the boat of secular popular opinion.

Our faith is too safe.

In the Anglican Church of Canada, we still talk about Christianity being counter-cultural, yet in the same breath in discussing the daily life of the church, the advice heard most often is some variation on, “get with the times.” We don’t want to offend anyone. On doctrinal issues, there is similarly a drive to try and show how secular views are entirely in line with the Gospel message and that the Church must therefore catch up to what society has already come to accept.

This is not to say that there is an inherent conflict between society (Canadian or other) and Christianity. In any society, there will be elements which line up with God’s will and elements which do not. Indeed, in Canada, the fact that Christian ethics and morality were the norm among the people and leaders of the country for over a hundred years. Not so today, and many people love to spend time debating when that change happened, but the fundamentals remain and in many cases, human conceptions of justice, right and good still mirror God’s laws.

In many ways Anglican, and all Christian, theology is post traumatic theology, in that it is generated to respond to some particular kind of trauma or controversy. In modern Canada, that trauma is fear of offending secular logic and sensibilities.

It is ironically a very Canadian approach to desire to be inoffensive. Yet it is not Canadian to be squeamish. Nor is it Christian. In the Acts of the Apostles, boldness is what characterizes the Apostles and disciples of Christ, in contrast to their shame and meekness following his arrest.

We have freedom to practice our faith, and yet instead, out of fear, we seek to conform our faith to what is acceptable to secular society. St Paul once wrote, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect,” (Rm 12. 2). When you limit your faith you grace and love, it is easy. No one is going to be offended by that, especially when you do not use God’s definition of love, but your own or society’s. How could they? The problem is that Christ did not come only with love, he came with grace and truth. It was love and grace that allowed Christ to approach the Samaritan woman at the well in the Gospel of St John.

Had Christ come only in love, it would have been an affirmation of her adultery. If he had not come in love, he would have been Pharisaical in his rebuke of her sins. When we are too safe, it is not simply that our theology becomes stunted, but it risk being outright wrong!

The shootings in Charleston have been supplanted in social media by the recent decision by the United States Supreme Court which has paved the way for same-sex marriage across the United States. This ruling comes during the middle of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church of the United States, where the issue of same-sex marriage has already been on the agenda and generating significant debate. If you listen to many Christians, the ruling is certainly a trauma, and General Convention is sure to have some kind of response.

The question now is whether or not General Convention will seek to play it safe and appeal to secular society, or whether they will act boldly with grace and truth in emulation of Christ. The pressure to conform ourselves to the world is strong. The pressure to have a safe faith is strong. If the inspiration of Christ and the Apostles is insufficient, we in the West ought to look to our brothers and sisters in Christ in the many places throughout the world where persecution does not mean the potential risk of ridicule or social ostracization, but rather death.

In as much as we seek to learn the circumstances of our brothers and sisters who face persecution, we must similarly seek to learn the example of how, regardless of personal safety, they choose to practice their faith boldly.

On Catechesis

The Sunday after Ascension Day

O GOD the King of Glory, who hast exalted thine only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph unto thy kingdom in heaven: We beseech thee, leave us not comfortless; but send to us thine Holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us unto the same place whither our Saviour Christ is gone before; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

Reorienting the skopos of the Church towards a culture of invitation and discipleship is one key in bucking the cultural trends that have contributed to the demographic decline. Last week focused largely on the issue of invitation, while this week delves into the second challenge that primarily involves discipleship by addressing the theology gap and catechesis.

One of the aspects of modernism described was a reinterpretation of Scripture in light of modern understanding. St Anselm of Canterbury once famously stated, “I believe in order that I may understand.” What he meant was that faith must precede intellectual understanding, or more precisely spiritual experience must first occur before it can be comprehended by the intellect. In attempts to create a culture of attraction it is entirely possible to create a reverse of that in which understanding precedes and informs faith.

Just look at Canada today. On all the issues of major theological controversy affecting the Anglican Church of Canada in the last 50 years, the move to change doctrine has ultimately been based on a desire to “catch up” to the beliefs of secular society. Whether it be calls for the ordination of women rooted in secular arguments of gender equality, or similar calls for the ongoing move to permit same-sex marriage in the Church. In these arguments, implicit in them is the idea that if the Church does not conform its doctrines to the beliefs of secular society, the Church will be rejected. Given how the Church has thus far, and seems to be in the case of same-sex marriage, moving with the tide of secular culture, it seems to suggest that Canada is the holiest state on the planet, beating the Church to God's punch.

When this trap of simply accepting secular wisdom is followed in an effort to attract the unchurched, it leads to hollow theology. Hollow theology is a theology which has no real substance to it. It relies on proclamations of what God is like or what God wants with limited support from Scripture. To use a contemporary example, when someone argues in favour of same-sex marriage in the Church solely from the perspective that Christ instructs us to love one another in the gospel, there is no substance to it, because it relies on one or two verses about love being interpreted as superseding and contradicting other parts of Scripture.

More accurately this type of theology causes a problem I call a theology gap. When our theology is generated in some way that is not explained consistently through the words of Holy Scripture, the Church Fathers and the Anglican formularies or when we simply lack the ability to explain our theology using that basis, there is a theology gap.

This reflects poor theological education and training both among clergy and laity alike. When someone asks a question and the answer is some variation on, “because I said so,” there is a theology gap. This affects modernists and theological liberals as provided in the example, but can also affect traditionalists in the second way. If a priest is unable to answer a theological question and resorts to saying something like, “that's the way it's always been,” or, “that's just how it is,” they have fallen into a theology gap as well. Whatever the cause of it, a theology gap will encourage or confirm scepticism towards Christianity and the church.

When there is a theology gap, we should not be surprised that it turns away seekers. When your theology lacks substance, it lacks God, and God is ultimately what keeps the faithful in Church. Similarly, if your theology only speaks to the wisdom of the world, what is the point of being in the church? Divorced from God, the church is merely an extremely inefficient charity organization, and inauthentic if it pays lip service to God whom it ignores when God's word conflicts with society. If society has already got it right, what is the point of church? God's grace transforms and sanctifies us, but if we enter into a church only to be told we've got it all right to begin with, what is the point of God's grace?

Such a church is not authentic and will not build disciples. In order to avoid this, theology must be authentic and done well. Theology done well in the Anglican tradition looks first to Holy Scripture, the interpretation and practice of the Church fathers and the writings of the Anglican formularies, which is to say the Book of Common Prayer, 39 Articles of Religion and the Ordinal. Using this process, any question on Anglican theology can be explored and explained. Bearing that in mind can address the first problem of doing theology poorly.

In order to address the second aspect of the theology gap, the solution is proper catechesis. The Book of Acts contains a famous passage in which Philip meets an Ethiopian who is reading the Book of Isaiah. Philip asks him if he understands what he has been reading, to which he answers, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” (Acts 8. 31). The practice of catechesis—instruction through word of mouth—is one referenced several times in the Scriptures. The authors recognized that the further removed from the context in which the Scriptures were written, the more difficult they would become to understand.

It is essential that all Christians have understanding of fundamental concepts. The Alpha course does a great job of introducing some of the fundamentals in a format which seeks to stoke the curiosity of the participants and allow them to further refine their questions in order to be able to come to the answers. This is great for some basic issues such as who Christ is, the nature of the Holy Spirit, and some similar basic issues. It does not address more complex issues, such as the nature of the sacraments, the doctrines of the church, the theology of suffering or other more complex issues. For that, a proper course of catechism is needed.

There is a short catechism in the Book of Common Prayer which addresses some of these issues, but the catechism is more meant as a final profession of faith at confirmation, rather than purely as an instructional tool. That said, the Prayer Book Society of Canada is developing something called 622. Named after the page on which the Book of Common Prayer's service for young people commences, it is designed as a 42 week exploration of issues in Christianity, aimed at teenagers. The Anglican Church of North America has also released their own catechism which provides, in question and answer format, 345 theological questions and answers along with Scriptural references, and is a good starting point for encouraging the exploration of faith in the Anglican tradition.

More than ever, seekers need Christian education resources that can orient them towards the God who deeply desires that they come to know him.

It may seem simple to say, but connecting people with God is the only way to address decline in the Church.

On Decline and Renewal

The Fourth Sunday after Easter

O ALMIGHTY God, who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men: Grant unto thy people, that they may love the thing which thou commandest, and desire that which thou dost promise; that so, among the sundry and manifold changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed, where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Anglicanism in the West is in decline. Where growth exists, it is often from immigrants coming from the global south where Anglicanism is still growing. Everyone has an opinion on what the cause of decline is and what the solution is. Ultimately, demographic decline can be summed up quite simply: the Church is failing to build up new disciples of Christ. Simple! The solution is simple, too: revival! Both simple, both true. How to achieve that, though, beyond simply prayer and miraculous intervention?

In 2010, a demographic report was released that showed an in-depth look into the trends that everyone had been witnessing in Canada for decades. The report showed a gradual but steady decline in membership, which was even starker when looking at attendance, since the mid-1960s. In the immediate post-War years there was an increase in membership, however much of that can be tied to immigration which was a significant demographic factor throughout Canada in the post-War world. Europe had been shattered by the Second World War. In the 1940s and 1950s, the United Kingdom itself was suffering heavily with rationing continuing for several years after the end of the war. Many war brides, who had met their husbands in the service during the war, returned to Canada with them. They started families and as their baby boomer children were born and baptised, they caused an increase in overall membership of the Anglican Church of Canada for the twenty years or so following the war.

When comparing the overall membership numbers to Sunday school enrolment, it’s easy to see the correlation. Growth in the 1950s and 1960s corresponds to young children being brought to church by their parents. As the membership growth trend plateaus and the trend enters into decline you see a decline in new enrolments in Sunday school, which corresponds to the overall demographic trends in Canada at the time. There was a post-War population boom that flattened out and declined by the late 1960s and beyond.

That trend explains events surrounding the boom, however it doesn’t tell the whole story of the Anglican Church of Canada. The trend continues towards decline, and outside of the boom in the 1960s, the number of children being baptised, confirmed and attending Sunday school continues to decline while the number of births stabilises in the 1970s and 1980s and even grows somewhat by the mid-90s before declining again into the 21st century. Interestingly, however, bucking the trend of rapid decline are two statistics. The first is the number of communicants at Easter, a figure which has remained relatively stable despite membership decline and the decline in baptisms. The second is the number of identifiable givers; parishioners who make contributions which can be identified in some way, generally by virtue of a numbered envelope.

There are a number of questions raised regarding the demographic results of this survey. First, if there is a high correlation with overall demographic trends in the 1950s and 1960s, what occurs in the 1970s and 1980s that causes the trend in the Anglican Church to split from the Canadian trend? Why, even if overall membership is declining, are the number of communicants at Easter remaining relatively stable? Similarly, what is the cause for the number of identifiable givers remaining stable, and does it suggest the possibility of an impending financial struggle if these identifiable givers are from an age cohort which is about to die? Finally, how does the experience of the Anglican Church of Canada compare with other Christians in Canada, and thus to what degree are these trends reflective of overall trends with respect to Christianity or religion as opposed to something specific to the Anglican Church of Canada?

Many people have attempted to answer these questions, and provide many different, often conflicting, reasons. Based on this demographic report, there can be some broad generalizations taken, the first of which is that the status of religion in Canada has changed generationally. When you look at the trends not just among Anglicanism, but among all religions in Canada, there is a clear shift. In Quebec, for instance, the Quiet Revolution saw the role of the Roman Catholic Church dramatically scaled back in public life. While affiliation with Roman Catholicism remains strong in Quebec according to Statistics Canada, attendance is only a tiny fraction of that, particularly in larger cities, while in some more rural communities, the role of the Church remains much more central. Most Christian churches have observed decline to some degree over the same period. The Roman Catholic Church has not suffered the same, though much of this seems to relate to immigration rates rather than continued births, baptisms and retention of youths into adulthood. Non-Christian religions such as Islam and Hinduism have gone from non-existent to representing several per cent of the population, and notably Islam is a significantly younger religion in terms of adherents. In 2010, the average Muslim was only 28 while the average Anglican was in their mid-forties.

This overall trend suggests a significant decline in the role of religion in Canadian public life, and a broader cultural dissatisfaction with religion as a whole, rather than Christianity in particular, by assimilated Westerners.

For good reason, when examining demographic changes in the church, a significant emphasis is placed on youth, and particularly on Millennials. Millennials is a term that has come to supplant Generation Y to denote the age cohort that follows Generation X. While there are no fixed absolute dates, it generally refers to those born from the mid-1980s to the 2000s, and thus today those who are in their teens and twenties.

They represent a generation that was less likely to have been brought up religiously, though there may have been some cultural attachment to a given church (they were baptised or christened at birth, but attend only for Christmas or Easter, or possibly in some other capacity with their grandparents rather than regularly with their parents).

That taken into account, the largest exposure to Christianity many Millennials receive would therefore be from popular media. Popular media, particularly in Canada where much of our media consumption is American, has two popular depictions of Christianity. First, the hypocritical, fire and brimstone Evangelical Fundamentalist and second the paedophile Roman Catholic priest.

The first challenge in the demographic decline is in overcoming preconceived notions of Church and being inviting towards Millennials.

Even among those who are brought up in faith, there is a greater tendency to leave the Church in the teenage years or adulthood. Pew Research has done a number of polls in the United States which show significantly higher scepticism towards religion in the United States among young people compared to previous generations. Scepticism of this sort can easily overcome poor theology, or even simple questions to which priests or youth leaders are ill-equipped to answer.

The second challenge therefore is overcoming the theology gap. In a society in which we are all bombarded with secularism and marketing half-truths, it requires a solid theology and a clear catechetical strategy to ensure that theology is transmitted to youth.

Contained within these two challenges are countless ways in which the Church and commentators have identified issues and proposed solutions to demographic decline. From the desire to be more modern or trendy, to changing theological demands in order to be responsive to modern sensibilities, to changing Church architecture.

The next few weeks will further explore some of these issues and some possible ways forward.