Pulling no punches, Ephraim Radner offers some knock-down arguments that TEC is out for the count on the canvas, and the future of the Anglican Communion, for those who Covenant to it, shines brighter than the stars TEC is seeing:
"The final text of the Anglican Covenant has now been sent out for adoption by the churches of the Communion. The slow process by which this text and its official dissemination for action has occurred has frustrated some, yet its persistent progress forward to this point at last puts the lie to the naysayers and early eulogists of the Covenant’s purpose. Joined to the restarting of the Anglican-Roman Catholic international dialogue, to be focused on substantive matters of ecclesiology and moral decision-making, what seemed merely slow now appears to be the visible sign of a tectonic shift in global Anglicanism and Christianity itself. It is one in which the Episcopal Church in the United States has placed itself on the far side of a widening channel separating the ballast of Christian witness, Catholic and Pentecostal, from marginal spin-offs of liberal Protestantism in decline."
and
"The Episcopal Church, as we have known it and given ourselves to its ministry, is over. But the Gospel is alive, and the Church that is Christ’s Body given, takes us to a new place."
I can imagine the scripted response from here. Episcopalians to the left crying foul blow below the belt. North American Anglicans to the right reacting to some left jabs Radner makes to their chins. But the essential point of what Ephraim is saying bears thinking about: Has TEC painted itself into a corner with its commitment to a non-traditional sexual ethic? Is it dying a slow death, measured by statistics its leadership will not own and lacking a remedy through gospel growth it can no longer provide because, to all intents and purposes, it preaches 'another gospel'?
One response, of course, is that most North American Christianity faces the same future as TEC, to one degree or another.
It is possible, however, that Radner is right, that there is a problem particular to TEC. If it will not change, it will die. Or at least keep withering on the vine.
But then, maybe Ephraim is wrong. What would be the evidence and the explanation which demonstrated that?
(H/T Titus One Nine)
Ephraim Radner is a pompous windbag who conveniently “forgets” that in the 11 years of conservative Evangelical Archbishop George Carey’s “leadership,” the Church of England lost more than a quarter of its worshippers, a catastrophic decline in attendance, which is the sharpest in the church’s history. Yet he has the gall to single out TEC in this regard.
ReplyDeleteHistorically, America has had higher rates of religious identification and participation than most European countries. That is now changing. The fastest growing group is None Of The Above---a change of historic dimensions---which is directly attributable to the growing disgust with right-wing Evangelical Christianity here. Young people are particularly turned off by all religion. All religious groups are declining here--conservative denominations as well as the liberals.
Once we Episcopalians finish flushing out the reactionaries, such as Ephraim Radner, we can give some thought as to how we rebuild our Church. The Radners can then go off into the trashcan of religious history---along with groups such as the Reformed Episcopal Church---where they belong.
Knowing our history as I do, I can assure friends and enemies alike Down Under that American Anglicanism/Episcopalianism has been in much, much more serious straights before during the past 430 years on this continent. We will survive, recover and flourish again!
Kurt Hill
Brooklyn USA
Hi Kurt
ReplyDeleteI have had the pleasure of meeting Ephraim Radner and do not think him a windbag, pompous or otherwise :)
As I understand it ER's take on declining statistics and general situation is that it is heading for oblivion.
I am fascinated by your robust vision of the present and the future of TEC:
"Once we Episcopalians finish flushing out the reactionaries, such as Ephraim Radner, we can give some thought as to how we rebuild our Church. The Radners can then go off into the trashcan of religious history---along with groups such as the Reformed Episcopal Church---where they belong.
"Knowing our history as I do, I can assure friends and enemies alike Down Under that American Anglicanism/Episcopalianism has been in much, much more serious straights before during the past 430 years on this continent. We will survive, recover and flourish again!"
I take it, then, that you do not disagree with the general statistical measure of TEC at present, but where ER sees the cross (so to speak) you see beyond that to resurrection!
I wonder if I shall live long enough to see who is correct ...
Down Under the future of churches which have embraced liberal Western culture with theological flexibility feels pretty vulnerable. Maybe TEC will show them the way to resurrection.
If the statistics in question on Church attendance, etc. have been issued by the Episcopal Church Center, how can one question them? (Likewise, I assume that you, Fr. Carrell, don’t question the catastrophic decline in attendance in CofE parishes under the conservative Evangelical Carey, yes?)
ReplyDeleteThe present situation in which TEC finds itself is mild by comparison with some prior periods of our Church’s history. For example:
British Anglicans were not the only Churchmen and Churchwomen to suffer under Cromwell’s Calvinist dictatorship; Americans suffered as well. During the English Civil War, Puritan New England favored the Roundheads, while the Episcopalians of Virginia and Maryland remained loyal to the Church and the Crown. Cromwell’s Protectorate contested for control over the southern colonies at the Battle of Great Severn (1655), which was fought near Annapolis, Maryland. This final battle of the English Civil War was won by the Puritans. They then controlled all of the American colonies, and suppressed the Episcopalians, until the Restoration of the 1660s. The current unpleasantness, by comparison, is minor compared to that official, state repression. We recovered from this serious blow.
Likewise during the period of the American Revolution the Church of England here suffered greatly in the estimation of Americans by its strong attachment to the cause of the British Crown. But there were not wanting both priests and laypeople most eminent in their loyalty to the cause of the new Republic and in the patriotic sacrifices which they made to the cause of Independence. At the conclusion of the Revolution, the Episcopal Church had all but disappeared from many communities throughout the country. We recovered bit by bit, and reorganized ourselves under democratic governance. Our Line of bishops, beginning with the consecration of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Samuel Seabury by bishops of the Scottish Church in 1784, is the oldest Line of Anglican bishops outside of the British Isles.
In the period of our Civil War 1861-1865, The Episcopal Church split in two like many American denominations, and lost far, far, far more members than in the minor splits of the past 50 years. Many American denominations never recovered from this split, and remain divided to this day. But The Episcopal Church recovered, and went on to flourish in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
So, no Peter, ultimately I believe that we will recover and grow again. Once we get rid of the disruptors in our midst (as we did with the Cumminsites 140 years ago) we can develop strategies for Mission.
Kurt Hill
Brooklyn USA
Hi Kurt
ReplyDeleteI cannot think of one Western Anglican/Episcopal church which does not have declining attendance figures. There is one difference between, say, the C of E's decline and the situation in North America: some of the decline in North America is attributable to Anglican transfer (ACCan or TEC to ACNA). Time will tell whether ACCan and TEC flourish, or ACNA, or both.
I take your well argued point from history that TEC has faced worse and lived to tell a better tale.
PECUSA's splits in the past were primarily over fisures in American politics, not over the nature of Christian theology. The ecclesial successor to PECUSA just doesn't believe the same things, or worship the same way.
ReplyDeleteThe Cof E declined under Carey, but part of this was the decline or departure of its catholic wing over WO, and the decline of children's work and youth work in 'central Anglicanism' - a process that began in the 1960s. On the other hand, 'flagship' churches associated with Holy Trinity Brompton or Reform have held their own or grown, especially in university cities. Nearly every church that has embraced the gay agenda has declined.
“PECUSA's [sic!] splits in the past were primarily over fis[s]ures in American politics, not over the nature of Christian theology.” --Anonymous
ReplyDeleteRubbish! You think that the clash between Puritans and Episcopalians was not a clash “over the nature of Christian theology”? Or that there were not tremendous theological differences underlying the Patriot/Loyalist split in the Anglican/Episcopal camp? Even during the American Civil War the North tended to be High Church and the South Evangelical--as the anti-Ritualism campaign ending in the Cummins schism showed a few years later
I can point out large, well attended Episcopal parishes too. So what? Since when do mere numbers mean anything substantial?
Kurt Hill
Brooklyn USA
RE: "Once we get rid of the disruptors in our midst (as we did with the Cumminsites 140 years ago) we can develop strategies for Mission."
ReplyDeleteHeh.
And what a long long time that will be.
Signed,
A Happy Episcopal Disruptor
Disruption? Not in MY parish, you don't, Anonymous! True, it's more difficult (but, not impossible) to excommunicate a layperson in TEC--much easier to do so to clergy.
ReplyDeleteKurt Hill
Brooklyn USA