'The real meaning of that absolution': Phillpotts on the absolution in the Visitation of the Sick

Having last week considered how Henry Phillpotts, in a series of letters - debating a Roman Catholic apologist - published in 1825, gave voice to an Old High critique of auricular confession, we now turn to this insistence that the special form of absolution in the Visitation of the Sick was not to be understood in the terms of Roman Catholic theology:

But it may be said, a particular absolution "is given to him who has made a particular confession": true, it is enjoined in the Rubric, that after what has preceded, if the sick man humbly and heartily desire it, the priest shall absolve him in the form annexed, a form, the meaning of which, if it be ambiguous, must be understood from comparison with the express doctrine, and uniform practice, of our Church in all the preceding instances. But even in this very form there is an implied declaration of the nature of the absolving power; it is given to absolve all sinners who truly repent and "believe in our Lord Jesus Christ;" and therefore on the penitent's "humbly and heartily desiring it" (the very terms imply the sincerity both of his repentance and his faith) the Priest feels himself at liberty to use it, and to say "By Christ's authority committed to me," an authority the limits of which have been just before stated, "I absolve thee from all thy sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Need I add, that it is immediately followed by a prayer to God "to consider the sick penitent's contrition, to accept his tears, to assuage his grief as shall seem to the Divine Wisdom most expedient for him"? Would this be consistent with a judicial absolution already given to the penitent? We have seen then, Sir, the real meaning of that absolution, which you affect to believe, and persons of less information than you, really believe, the same with that which is claimed and exercised by the priesthood of the Church of Rome.

Crucially, therefore, this special form of absolution was not judicial. Just as Phillpotts contended that the Prayer Book provision for private confession was a pastoral measure for those in particular distress, so this absolution was addressed to those who - as in the Holy Communion - "do truly and earnestly repent" of their sins, "and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God". It was, in other words, a declaration of forgiveness dependent upon the faith and repentance of the penitent. This "real meaning" of this absolution stood starkly apart from a Roman Catholic understanding of absolution in the Sacrament of Penance. Again, this highlights the context for Phillpotts' republication of this particular letter in 1848, refuting the Tractarian view that this Prayer Book absolution was to be understood in the terms of Tridentine theology. As Phillpotts declared, this was not a sustainable view, for the special form of absolution "must be understood from comparison with the express doctrine, and uniform practice, of our Church".

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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