Advent Sunday 1660

The Advent quality of the restoration of the Church of England in 1660 was captured by the sermon preached by William Sancroft on Advent Sunday of that year, at the consecration of seven bishops in Westminster Abbey for the newly restored Church:

When the Lord turned again the Captivity of Sion, they made their thankful acknowledgements, and said in the Psalm, The Lord hath done great things for us already, whereof we will be glad. But then it follows immediately in the next Verse, Turn again our Captivity, O Lord, as the Rivers in the South. It seems, their Captivity (I am sure Ours) is still to turn again, even after 'tis returned. For there are relics of it still behind; and the sad Effects remain, (an Age will hardly be able to Efface them;) and, which is the saddest of All, we are still, I fear, in captivity to the same Sins, that occasioned that; and they are able to bring upon us Ten Thousand Captivities, worse, than the former. Plainly, there are Riddles in our Condition ... Returned, and not returned: Restored, and yet not so fully restored:- in fine, with them in the Psalm, We are like to them, that dream ...

We have Jerusalem ('tis true) and the Hill of Sion in our Eye: Yet many look back to Babel; and multitudes sit Captives still by those Waters, increasing them with their Tears. If any have taken down their Harps from those Willows, they are not strung, nor well in Tune: and we scarce find how to sing the Lord's Songs, even in our own Land.

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Why I support the ordination of women: a High Church reflection

A number of commenters on this blog have asked about my occasional expressions of support for the ordination of women to all three orders. With some hesitation, I have decided to post a summary of my own views on this matter. The hesitation is because I have sought on this blog to focus on issues and themes which can unify those who identify with or have respect (grudging or otherwise!) for what we might term 'classical' Anglicanism (the Anglicanism of the Formularies and - yes - of the Old High Church tradition). Some oppose the ordination of women (and I have friends and colleagues who do so, Anglo-Catholic, High Church, and Reformed Evangelical). Some of us support it (again, friends and colleagues covering a wide range of theological traditions). Below, I have organised my thinking around 5 points (needless to say, no reference to Dort is implied). 1. The Declaration for Subscription required of clergy in the Church of Ireland states: (6) I promise to submit ...

How the Old High tradition continued

Charles Gore's 1914 letter to the clergy of his diocese, ' The Basis of Anglican Fellowship ', can be regarded as a classical expression of the Prayer Book Catholic tradition. A key part of the letter - entitled 'Romanizing in the Church of England' - addressed the "Catholic movement", questioning beliefs and practices within it which tended to "a position which makes it very difficult for its extremer representatives to give an intelligible reason why they are not Roman Catholics". Gore provides the outlines of an alternative account and experience of catholicity within Anglicanism, defined by three characteristics. What is particularly interesting about these characteristics is their continuity with the older High Church tradition. Indeed, the central characteristic as set out by Gore was integral to High Church claims over centuries: To accept the Anglican position as valid, in any sense, is to appeal behind the Pope and the authority of t...

1928 practices and the 1979 book: unthinking conservatism or popular piety?

Those responsible for Earth & Altar - a new blog emanating from a group within TEC - are to be congratulated for an excellent contribution to wider Anglican discussion and debate. The commitment to "an expansively conceived credal orthodoxy as fully compatible with LGBTQ inclusion, gender equality, and racial justice" is an important part of a wider retrieval of creedal orthodoxy within what we might call the post-liberal generation. It is in this spirit that I want to respond to a recent post on the site by Andrew McGowan , Dean of the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale and Professor of Anglican Studies at Yale Divinity School. Against the background of another round of "ill-defined" liturgical revision in TEC, he understandably urges that a fuller reception of the 1979 BCP should occur before further reforms. In doing so, however, he takes aim at what he describes as "clinging to the ritual structures of 1928" while using the text of 1979. We ...

laudable Practice

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