ACNA and the Anglican Disease
Embryo Parson Posted on Monday, June 13, 2016 at 12:27PM I was talking with a friend the other day who is currently serving in an ACNA mission but who comes from the APA. His remark about ACNA was interesting. He noted that there is a huge segment of people in that province who, if it had not been for the consecration of Vicky Gene Robinison, would have happily remained Episcopalians. Their move out of TEc to ACNA, in his estimation, wasn't so much evidence of their being traditional Anglicans as it was of their being mere anti-gay bigots (his words). He went on to say that these peeople really have no clue as to what it means to be a traditional Anglican, or as to just what had happened to the Church of England and her spawn throughout the globe long, long before Robinson's consecration.
I've alluded here at OJC to what my friend is talking about, calling it the "Anglican Disease." What happened to Anglicanism, I maintain, is that both the Protestant Reformation and the Enlightenment worked in tandem to cut the CofE and her daughters loose from the Catholic faith, the former doing so by its preference for the academy over Catholic authority to settle theological questions, the latter doing so by its radical questioning of all traditional authority - which took place, again, mainly in Anglican academies. In this day and age even purported conservative Anglican theologians are not immune to the disease. Witness, for example, ACNA theologian William Witt's reference to "Ph.D Anglicanism" and "Reformation Christians" in his defense of the uncatholic monstrosity of women's ordination. Dr. Witt and too many like him in ACNA are examples of the phenomenon my friend was talking about. These people believe themselves to be conservative Anglicans, when nothing could be further from the truth. They are to Anglicanism what neo-conservativism is to the GOP. One perceptive writer at Touchstone calls them "latcons."
Reader Comments (6)
So, one might say that like the GOPe, we have the Anglicane? I definitely do see the likeness.
I agree with you 100%. All the prancing about in vestments and cassocks and lace cannot possibly make up for the deep sickness that is loss of belief in Biblical authority, the divorce from sacred Tradition and the Rule of Faith, and the creeping Pelagianism that seems to be so chic nowadays. I had an ACC priest tell me last night over dinner he believes St. Augustine to be a schismatic, and most of the Latin writers were not useful to study (Tertullian was his only exception.)
The salvation of the Continuum will be precisely a restoration of belief in the primacy and authority of Scripture, the inviolable nature of Sacred tradition, and the priority of grace and the belief in holiness. Essentially, taking the St. Louis Affirmation *seriously* along with our prayer book tradition. Catholic first, remember? The train wreck that is women's ordination, playing footsie with revivalism and pentecostalism, and trying to seem all so respectable by mythologizing Scripture at every turn, will put us back right where TEC is now. It's a doomed experiment if we don't redress these ills.
The Haunted Bookman
Augustine a schismatic? Well there's a novel argument.
Indeed, rather novel.
I know Pusey would roll in his grave if he caught a whiff of the rotten attitudes towards blessed Augustine of Hippo, who has done infinitely more for the cause of true religion than Augustine of Canterbury (blessed be both!)
I for one throw my lot in with Catholic Christianity.
Meanwhile the laity are driftwood, beholden to the whims of a minister who may be Anglo-Catholic today and Pentacostal tomorrow. The worship devolves to the pastor's weekly preferences as he (or she!) creates a "Bulletin of Common Prayer" mixing and matching bits and pieces willey nilly.
And the infection runs deep and cuts across TEC, Realignment, and Continnuum alike. Makes a man pessimistic when he knows Rome and Byzantine are not greener pastures.
"Their move out of TEc to ACNA, in his estimation, wasn't so much evidence of their being traditional Anglicans as it was of their being mere anti-gay bigots (his words)."
Wow. That line there just totally hit the nail on the head! That's pretty much the conclusion I had reached. Sins like illegal immigration (and all the theft, tax-evasion, and other crime associated with it) are totally fine in ACNA, and the people committing those crimes, even if they're gangbangers, need help from our Immigration Alliance lawyers to get their amnesty. Meanwhile, the one unforgivable sin is being gay. Glad we have our standards on which sins are in and which are out.
As to women's ordination in the ACNA, I've concluded that I have difficulty feeling sorry for those in ACNA who are fighting against it. I was reading the comments in a Virtue Online post from some time ago that had to due with WO. The conservative ACNA members' brilliant solution to get rid of WO is to spew misogyny, such as:
* Women aren't bright or strong (My response: God uses the weak. And women like me are engineers, doctors, lawyers, etc. Intelligence has nothing to do with why women shouldn't be ordained.)
* Women are easily deceived. (My response: So why are you letting them teach your children in Sunday School or at home? Won't they just deceive them, too?)
* Men don't like being led by women. (My response: That's called pride.)
* Deborah in the book of Judges was an exception. (My response: Now you've opened the door for more "exceptions" to be ordained from the WO-camp. Yeah, that was real smart. Glad we have you brilliant men to lead us.)
Rather than coming up with the most Biblical and traditional response to WO, they throw gasoline on the fire, and wonder why the pro-WO camp polarizes against them even worse. Have these people even read C.S. Lewis? Or the host of other writers? How about Church Fathers, like Ignatius of Antioch?
The truth is, the Bible isn't that clear as to why only men are qualified. Except, oh, wait. Didn't Jesus say that the Scriptures were written of Him? Oooh! Maybe it's a type of Christ, because Christ came as a male, and the presbyter/bishop is an image of Christ ministering to His bride, the Church! Like C.S. Lewis and a host of others have said so! Even Pope John Paul II said so! Wow, that was so hard to come with. Nah, never mind. Let's go back to being misogynists and making women feel like dirt with our brilliant eisegesis.
For crying out loud, one of the reasons I ran to Anglicanism is because I couldn't stand the standard baptist reasoning against WO anymore (a la Grudem and Piper). I mean, Wayne Grudem even has a big list of what women can and cannot do in church, lest she somehow exercise authority over a man. I thought by going Anglican, I could get away from this junk and have a sane reason for being against WO without having to hate myself for being a woman. To see this kind of reasoning in ACNA was extremely disappointing. They should know better! I'm just glad the bishop in my ACC diocese isn't into the Grudem/Piper reasoning. He's sane. The "conservatives" in ACNA aren't. It's their own fault if they are having a hard time ending WO. They're going to make it worse with their faulty eisegesis. I mean, I could dig up the seemingly most misogynist Church Father quote, and that Church Father will still sound like a women's rights social justice warrior compared to these guys. What are these people thinking?
I'm going to settle down and doing something relaxing that will get my blood pressure back down now. I apologize for the rant. There just aren't too many shoulders to cry on in a world full of ACNA Anglicans who behave more like misogynist baptists that don't get why the WO problem keeps getting worse. Which is why I can't thank you enough for pointing me to the ACC in my area. A real 1928 BCP! Wow!
But this long rant does have an ultimate point: ACNA is hypocritical to be a bunch of gay bigots when every time one of their priestesses steps up to the altar/pulpit, she ends up portraying a gay marriage between Christ and His bride. Talk about a confusing message they're sending.
As usual, you've made a poignant blog post.