"Sufficient for the conveyance of remission of sins": Mant on the Absolution at Mattins and Evensong

From Richard Mant's 1836 The Churches of England and Rome Compared, an example of Old High Church teaching on the sufficiency of the general absolution at the daily service and Holy Communion, and how private confession was to be understood as a "rare occurrence". Also significant is the emphasis on absolution "not as a judicial, but as a ministerial act", characteristic of the Anglican ethos of pastoral, rather than sacerdotal, ministry:

according to the provisions of the Church of England, the "Absolution," pronounced by the minister in ordinary cases, has a general reference to the whole congregation; and it is only on one special occasion , the terms of which make it of rare occurrence, that it takes in this respect a different character ...

No such confession is esteemed necessary or required by the Church of England: in common cases, a general confession of sin is provided by her as the preliminary to absolution, such confession being addressed to Almighty God, not to the priest; and by the priest, as well as by the people . In case of "a special confession of sins" to the priest, it is made by the free will of him who makes it ...

Particular absolution is limited by the Church of England to those, who in sickness "feel their conscience troubled with any weighty matter," and who thereupon, having "made a special confession of their sins," "humbly and heartily desire" the priest to absolve them: the general forms of absolution in her daily services, and in the administration of the holy communion, following upon the general forms of confession of sin, being esteemed by her sufficient for the conveyance of remission of sins to her congregations ...

By the Church of England, absolution is practised, not as a judicial, but as a ministerial act: the priest performs the part, not of a judge, but of the authorised dispenser of God's pardon to those on whom God has promised and vouchsafes to bestow it . This is quite plain in the forms of words, prescribed for the Orders of daily Prayer and for the ministration of the holy communion.

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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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