Constructing the boundaries of Anglican orthodoxy: An analysis of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON)

This article examines the evolution of the transnational orthodox Anglican movement through the lens of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON)—the movement’s most significant public expression to date. GAFCON represented the first large-scale event at which a sizable number of Anglicans (ordained and lay) from both the global North and global South gathered to galvanise an ‘orthodox’ response to the current ‘crisis’ in the Anglican Communion (a crisis precipitated by debates over the status of homosexuality). The analysis is based upon fieldwork conducted at GAFCON, a review of a range of documentary sources, and retrospective interviews with several attendees. The article argues that GAFCON constituted a key moment for the attempted framing of movement objectives for participants, other Anglicans, and outside observers, fixing a standard of orthodoxy in the final Jerusalem Declaration. While attempting to project an image of orthodox unity to outsiders, GAFCON leaders also made the negotiation of certain aspects of cultural difference central to the event’s purpose. Detailed examinations are provided of two topics (homosexuality and female ordination) that exemplify the ongoing negotiation of the boundaries of orthodoxy within the movement. The article concludes with reflections on the significance and further development of the movement.     

Charles F. Mackenzie,Popery, Guns,and Colonial Conflict

Charles F. Mackenzie was an Anglican archdeacon in the 19th century in the newly formed Diocese of Natal. He was consecrated a missionary bishop for Central Africa in Cape Town in 1861, which was a significant development for the Anglican Church at the time. Mackenzie struggled to read the social landscape, becoming embroiled in colonial conflict. Consequently, congregants, colleagues, and historians have characterized him in markedly different ways, rendering a disputed legacy. This paper brings Mackenzie into conversation with another figure who is not without his own controversy: Martyn Percy. Applying Percy's implicit theological approach provides an important lens with which to view the social complexities, ecclesial conflicts and missional contexts which Mackenzie sought to navigate.     

The conciliar intent of Richard Hooker’s theological hermeneutic

Abstract

Recent research has sought to resolve the question of Richard Hooker’s theological relationship to the Reformation by identifying a hermeneutical framework that supports and guides his work as a whole. Two proposals are noteworthy: Torrance Kirby’s thesis on Hooker’s alignment with the Continental reformers and William Haugaard’s thesis on Hooker’s role in the development of ‘Anglicanism.’ This paper holds that these proposals should be understood within the context of Hooker’s conciliar intent. With a focus primarily on the preface to the Lawes, it is suggested that Hooker’s conciliar intent is motivated by the theological and ecclesial principles found in the premise, namely, the connection between the divine peace and order of 1 Corinthians 14:33 and the Council of Jerusalem. In clarifying the correlation of these two principles, the article asserts that the priorities of Hooker’s preface are first, to identify the hermeneutical crisis of his day as the crisis over the public criteria of Christian truth, and then to respond to this crisis by connecting spiritual discernment amidst controversy to conciliar judgment. Accordingly, ecumenical implications rather than doctrinal demarcation appear as central to Hooker’s theological project.     

Learning the Church: ecclesiological thought and ecclesial practice

This article illustrates how the ecclesiological ideas developed by Professor Daniel Hardy (1930–2007) have been received and used in the life of the Church of England's Diocese of Coventry. It highlights the importance of theological engagement for those in a position of oversight and leadership in the Church, and goes on to connect Hardy's language of intensity and extensity with the story, structure and ethos of Coventry Cathedral in general, and with the iconic Stalingrad Madonna in particular, illustrating the rich synthesis that can be achieved between systematic ecclesiology and the central ethos of a church. The article goes on to argue that certain practices in the Church of England in general, and Coventry Diocese in particular, resonate well with Hardy's idea of ‘socio-poiesis’. These include the nurture of virtuous ecclesial practice and use of measurement in parish life (notably through ‘Natural Church Development)’, the new form taken by ecumenism in British cities and the role of the Bishop within it, as well as the embeddedness of the Church of England in many of the nation's schools. In relating Hardy's key themes to these concrete practices, this article challenges the stale division between Church and Academy, advocating fruitful and animating dialogue between the two as the best response to the challenges faced by each today.     

Frank Weston,the Kikuyu Controversy,and the necessity of episcopacy

This article provides a historical and theological account of the controversy that erupted in 1913 when Frank Weston, Bishop of Zanzibar, appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Randall Davidson, to try W.G. Peel, the Bishop of Mombasa, and J.J. Willis, the Bishop of Uganda, for ‘heresy and schism’ for their having participated in an interdenominational conference in Kikuyu in British East Africa. By agreeing to a Scheme of Federation with non-episcopal churches and holding a joint communion service at which non-conformists received communion from an Anglican Bishop, Peel and Willis had undermined the principle of episcopacy, thereby endangering the status of the Church of England as the English Section of the universal, Catholic Church. This article considers the theological arguments Weston advances for his condemnation of the Kikuyu Conference and examines his grounds for holding that episcopacy is an indispensable doctrine of the Christian faith.     

The Church in St Ambrose of Milan

Abstract

A brief account is given of the life of St Ambrose and of modern scholarly views on his work. The Church was favoured by the Emperor Constantine and Christianity established as the state religion by the Emperor Theodosius. Ambrose might have been expected to have been interested in promoting the interests of the Church as an institutional and juridical organisation but he was in fact overwhelmingly interested in its spiritual aspect, as von Campenhausen asserts, opposed by Morino. The Church is seen in Ambrose's writings as the City of God and as the Kingdom of God into which believers are received. His understanding of the Church is markedly christocentric and biblical and is closely linked with his thinking on the Holy Spirit. This article also examines his attitude to the see of Rome, of which he did not recognise a general supremacy. The relevance for Christians today of Ambrose's experience of the Church as a unique spiritual fellowship is touched on.     

Charles F. Mackenzie and Early Colonial Racism

Archdeacon Charles F. Mackenzie ministered in the diocese of Natal in South Africa from 1855 to 1859. The early days of the diocese and the colony of Natal were characterized by conflict both inside and outside the church. The church conflict of Bishop John Colenso is perhaps most infamous. Mackenzie attempted to navigate this space and minister to settlers, soldiers, and Africans alike. This article draws on primary sources to explore the life and times of Mackenzie and argues that despite Mackenzie's remarkable story, the inseparability of coloniality from the missionary endeavour, racism, and the civilizing narrative was inescapable. Racism has evolved and is still a challenge for many churches.