Bishop Patrick Forbes, Athanasius of the North

Today starts a new series on Laudable Practice, as we turn to the Aberdeen Doctors, the group of eirenic thinkers centred around Patrick Forbes, Bishop of Aberdeen 1618-35. Under the leadership of Forbes, the Aberdeen Doctors offered to the Church of Scotland an alternative to the ideological certainties of both Carolinism (what others - mistakenly, I believe - call 'Laudianism') and the Covenanters: a moderate understanding of episcopacy, a modest account of the Reformed tradition, and a defence of peaceable conformity.

One of this group, Robert Baron, 'doctor and professor of divinity', preached at Forbes' funeral, praising him as an Athanasius of the church of the northern kingdom:

For (as Gregorie Nazianzen reasoned concerning Athanasius his prayses) to prayse him, it is to prayse vertue; and to prayse vertue, it is to prayse God, who is the author and giver of it. I say, that to prayse him, is to prayse vertue; because, (as Nazianzen there sayeth of Athanasius) manie rare vertues, both morall, and spirituall, were collected, and vnited together in him. Think not that I speak hyperbolicallie: for I dare affirme, that there was as great a varietie of God's graces in him, as in anie Laity or Clergie-man of this Kingdome. These who knewe him well, doe acknowledge this; and these who doe not acknowledge it, never knew him. I will not enumer all his vertues, and laudable carriages: but omitting that which I might speake of his admirable wisdome, his singular learning, his most quick apprehension, and conceaving of whatsoever purposes, his solide, or stayed judgement, his mellifluous eloquence, his wonderfull activitie, his generous, and noble, or rather heroicke disposition: so that I may justly say of him, as Nazianzen said of Athanasius, hee did imitate the nature both of the Adamant, in respect no vnjust opposition, howe violent soever, could breake him; and of the Magnes, or load-stone, because of the attractiue vertue of his pithie and convincing speaches; as also of his gracious, prudent, and amiable carriage, whereby hee was able to draw even the most refractarie spirits, to the equitie, or trueth, which hee did mayntayne; omitting, I say, all these thinges, I will onelie touch one thing, which is chiefelie to bee looked vnto in one of that place; to wit, that he was an accomplished Prelate, & a most worthie Governour of the Church.

This extract from the sermon suggests how episcopacy could take root in the soil of Protestant Scotland. Baron is unembarrassed by the term 'prelate'; he draws the comparison between the late Bishop of Aberdeen and the great patriarch of Alexandria, emphasising the antiquity and orthodoxy of episcopacy; he notes how episcopacy stood against the unjust and violent opposition of "refractory spirits"; and he illustrates how effective bishops could be through their learning, piety, and ministry.

Baron's praise for Forbes is also a reminder that the two periods of the episcopal Church of Scotland - from 1610 to 1638 and 1660 to 1688 - produced significant figures. Too quickly and too easily have historians dismissed the pre-1638 and post-1660 episcopal Church of Scotland, merely echoing the ideologically-loaded attacks levelled by the Covenanting tradition. By contrast, in Forbes and the Aberdeen Doctors we see intellectually weighty figures, setting forth an attractive vision of a Church of Scotland, taking its place amongst the national, reformed, episcopal churches of the Three Kingdoms.

Goe, celebrate the Funeralls of our Venerable, and moste worthie Bishop: you shall never see the Funeralls of a worthier Praelate whyle you liue.

The closing words of Baron's sermon are a call to us to renew the memory of Bishop Forbes, the Aberdeen Doctors, and the pre-1638 and post-1660 episcopal Church of Scotland.

(The second picture is a 17th century depiction of Aberdeen, Forbes' episcopal see and home of the two universities, Marischal College and King's College, in which the Aberdeen Doctors taught.)

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...

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