"The grounds which Waterland lays down": the native High Church tradition against Newman and 'development'

From A Memoir of Joshua Watson, an extract from an 1846 letter to Watson by William Broughton, then the Church of England's Bishop of Australia, on Newman's Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine:

To make a candid confession to you ... I did not open it without some uncomfortable apprehensions as to the formidable assault which a writer of such high repute would make upon the towers and bulwarks of the Jerusalem from which he had fallen away. You may believe my assurance that I have really studied the book, reading it piece by piece with attention many times over; striving to make myself master as well of the general argument as of the several details. And now what shall I say? .... considered as a justification of a man's desertion of the Church of England for the purpose of joining the Church of Rome, it is the most inconclusive and unsatisfactory performance that it ever fell to my lot to examine.

The sum and substance of his argument appears to be, that the dictum of Vincentius, if it admit the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity, cannot exclude the doctrine of transubstantiation and the like; it cannot condemn Aquinas and protect St. Athanasius. It is on this point that I would come to issue with them. My consolation is in thinking, after a very careful and, I trust, impartial scrutiny, that upon the grounds of Scripture, reason, and antiquity, the grounds which Waterland lays down as his basis, we may embrace and hold fast those blessed truths which our venerated mother, the Church of England, has given us to confide in; and yet may upon the same principle reject the errors which a pseudo-catholic system strives to obtrude upon us, as really satisfying the criterion of Vincentius. For myself, I feel much more composure since reading Mr. Newman's book. It allays all my apprehension of his ability to say anything which can seriously embarrass the advocates of the Church; it awakens in me a strong hope that it will rectify the views of many who have allowed themselves to be warped by his influence and example.

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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...

Pride, progressive sectarianism, and TEC on Facebook

Let me begin this post with an assumption that will be rejected by some readers of laudable Practice , but affirmed by other readers. Observing Pride is an understandable aspect of the public ministry of TEC. On previous occasions , I have rather robustly called for TEC to be much more aware and respectful of the social conservatism of the Red states and regions in which it ministers. A failure to do so risks TEC declining yet further into the irrelevance of progressive sectarianism. At the same time, TEC also obviously ministers in deep Blue states and metropolitan areas - and is the only Mainline Protestant tradition in which a majority of its members vote Democrat .* With Pride now an established civic commemoration, particularly in such contexts, there is a case for TEC affirming those aspects of Pride - the dignity of gay men and lesbian women, their contribution to civic life, and their place in the church's life - which cohere with a Christian moral vision. (I will n...

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