Packer on the Thirty-Nine Articles

...it has been argued that the true Anglican vocation is to be a dialectical communion, a cockpit of discussion and debate in which three types of theology, Reformational, Romanizing, and radical reformist respectively battle it out, while the institution hospitably holds the ring for them all without committing itself in a decisive way to any one of them. But this is a rationalisation of history which history itself explodes... On every point save the shape of the Church-state link and the acceptance of episcopacy (Articles 37, 36) the [Thirty-nine] Articles are unambiguously in the reformed mainstream. The truth is that for four centuries the Reformed commitment of the Church of England, set forth in the Articles, has been a matter of public fact, and the latter-day suggestion of an essentially dialectic identity for Anglicanism must be dismissed as a private fancy - wishful thinking without historical warrant, and flying in the face of established historical realities.

J.I. Packer, R.T. Beckwith The Thirty Nine Articles Their Place and Use Today (Oxford, Latimer House: 1984), 26-27

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Billy Graham (Berlin congress 1966)

I am convinced that if the Church went back to it’s main task of proclaiming the Gospel and getting people converted to Christ, it would have a far greater impact on the social, moral and psychological needs of men than any other thing it could possibly do. Some of the greatest social movements of history have come about as the result of men being converted to Christ.
Read more

Global capitalism as Grand Narrative

Whilst academics have been announcing the advent of 'post-modernity,' and professedly sounding the death knell of all hegemonic 'grand narratives,' global capitalism has insidiously established its power as perhaps the most rapacious grand narrative in the history of the West. Sarah Coakley Powers and Submissions 2002, p14 (intro)
Read more

Modern Evangelism

Salvation in such a [individualistic] world is transformed into and essentially private, one-by-one affair, while evangelism becomes a practice based almost entirely on individual personality and persuasion, an attempt to lead individuals into a private decision to "have a personal relationship with Jesus“ or to join the church, much as one might join any other club or association. The modern Western model of church and salvation, especially in its Protestant forms (which are considerably more "modernised“ than Catholic or Orthodox forms), is largely predicated upon this narrative of the self. The church‘s evangelistic ministry becomes an expression of what McIntyre refers to as “bureaucratic individualism“ and entails the combination of rational technique and strategy, the creation of multiple programs to meet the needs of parishioners who will increasingly come to be viewed as customers or consumers, the tailoring of the gospel message to resonates with people‘s personal ex...
Read more