"The natural fruit of moderation": Christopher Bethell and the Old High Church vision

In his 1825 Primary Charge to the clergy of the Diocese of Gloucester, Christopher Bethell gave us a sense of the vision of the High Church tradition of which he was a stalwart. In the extracts below we see how he defines this tradition as embodying an Anglicanism defined by the Reformed Catholicism of Articles and Prayer Book. It is worth reflecting how the stormy partisanship of the Tractarians, and the reaction which they and their successors provoked, undermined the "moderation" (a term used by Bethell quite a few times in his Charge) of this vision.

The Articles, especially, were agreed upon, as their title declares, “for avoiding of diversities of opinion, and for establishing of consent touching true religion.” But their real meaning is not to be ascertained by studying them in connection with systems and opinions which had no influence on their construction, but with reference to the history of the times in which they were written, the controversies in which their framers were engaged, and the errors which they were intended to confute. Such an investigation of their scope and meaning, will terminate many unprofitable and irrelevant disputes, and will further, it is to be presumed, that unity of views and opinions, which is the natural fruit of moderation, sobriety of mind, temperate discussion, and well-conducted enquiries ...

Nor need I caution you against any departure from a strict conformity to our admirable Liturgy; for you are well acquainted with its value, and have engaged yourselves to conform to it by solemn subscriptions and declarations. But you must avoid diversities of customs, and attempts at novelty or singularity, in the administration of the Sacraments and the performance of Divine Service and you must be careful to speak the same language, and to teach the same doctrines, in the pulpit, which the Church prescribes to you in the reading desk, at the font, and at the Communion table.

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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...

'Whether the Lutheran Churches have right Ordinations and perfect succession of Bishops': Jeremy Taylor, 'Episcopacy Asserted', and Lutheran orders

Amidst the bitter controversies over episcopacy in the Three Kingdoms during the early 1640s, controversies which had become war in Scotland in 1637 and then in England in 1642, Jeremy Taylor wrote his Laudian defence of episcopal order, The Sacred Order and Offices of Episcopacy Asserted and Maintained . He proposed in this work that the non-episcopal Reformed churches could have had episcopally-ordered clergy: Those good people might have had order from the bishops of England or the Lutheran churches, if at least they thought our churches catholic and Christian. Leaving aside the reality that, for example, French Protestants would have been placed in an invidious political position if they had done as Taylor proposed, it is the reference to "the Lutheran churches" which is significant. To begin with, a large portion of the Lutheran churches - those in the German lands - were governed by a system of superintendency. It is almost inconceivable that Taylor was not aware of th...

laudable Practice

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