Anglican Church Engagement
This essay is a response to the following question:
“In the light of the apparent disconnection between the UK Anglican church and contemporary culture, reflected in decreasing attendance, in what ways might the church seek to restore this connection? What practical and theological shifts might be necessary to facilitate postmodern society’s engagement with the Christian gospel?”
Potential Theological Shifts for Postmodern Engagement with the Christian Gospel
1 Introduction
Bosch says of the Victorian church: ‘evangelicals became a respected power in the state, and missionaries...promoters of western expansion’ (Bosch 1991:282) and ‘the new missionary force...imbued with the desire to save the world, as a matter of course took charge …show more content…
In the Anglican Church, characterized by and positively valuing theological diversity, “the Christian gospel” cannot be assumed. Does the gospel the Anglican Church proclaims deserve its definite article? With which “gospel” is it expecting postmodern society to engage? Can the Gospel be redefined and reshaped endlessly to please every view in a postmodern era? The New Testament authors faced similar issues: ‘the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires’ (2 Timothy 4:3). They were confident of a clear distinction between “the” Gospel and other false gospels. Whether the 21st century Anglican Church has many Gospels or not and despite its orthodox creeds and formularies, it is definitely less eager in practice, it seems, to emphasise the particularity of Christ and singular authentic gospel than were the Apostles. Examining the work of Stephen Sykes (1978), Bryant in his essay, ‘Multiform Christianity and the Theological Vocation Today’ says of modern Anglicanism that it, ‘has responded to the advent of theological liberalism ...with a view of comprehensiveness that has allowed an unbounded theological variety to emerge within the Anglican communion’ (Bryant 1984:151). Simply …show more content…
This will cause offence both within and without Anglicanism –but as we have seen, this is nothing new. The aim of Christian ‘gentleness and reverence’ (1 Peter 3:15) is to have the Gospel heard, not merely for the Christian to be liked. If the Gospel is particular, it cannot in a postmodern culture be popular. As early as 1973, Forell says of pluralism in postmodernity that it
is the ideologically most threatening aspect of the modern world ...because it undermines the notion of “one truth” and thus jeopardises the claims of atheists and theists, nationalists and internationalists, totalitarians and democrats (Forell 1973:2).
It may be that the rise of militant humanism in modern Britain probably has as much to do with atheist rationalist frustration at the necessary corollary of credibility afforded Christianity by pluralism, as it does the zeal of evangelical
“In the light of the apparent disconnection between the UK Anglican church and contemporary culture, reflected in decreasing attendance, in what ways might the church seek to restore this connection? What practical and theological shifts might be necessary to facilitate postmodern society’s engagement with the Christian gospel?”
Potential Theological Shifts for Postmodern Engagement with the Christian Gospel
1 Introduction
Bosch says of the Victorian church: ‘evangelicals became a respected power in the state, and missionaries...promoters of western expansion’ (Bosch 1991:282) and ‘the new missionary force...imbued with the desire to save the world, as a matter of course took charge …show more content…
In the Anglican Church, characterized by and positively valuing theological diversity, “the Christian gospel” cannot be assumed. Does the gospel the Anglican Church proclaims deserve its definite article? With which “gospel” is it expecting postmodern society to engage? Can the Gospel be redefined and reshaped endlessly to please every view in a postmodern era? The New Testament authors faced similar issues: ‘the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires’ (2 Timothy 4:3). They were confident of a clear distinction between “the” Gospel and other false gospels. Whether the 21st century Anglican Church has many Gospels or not and despite its orthodox creeds and formularies, it is definitely less eager in practice, it seems, to emphasise the particularity of Christ and singular authentic gospel than were the Apostles. Examining the work of Stephen Sykes (1978), Bryant in his essay, ‘Multiform Christianity and the Theological Vocation Today’ says of modern Anglicanism that it, ‘has responded to the advent of theological liberalism ...with a view of comprehensiveness that has allowed an unbounded theological variety to emerge within the Anglican communion’ (Bryant 1984:151). Simply …show more content…
This will cause offence both within and without Anglicanism –but as we have seen, this is nothing new. The aim of Christian ‘gentleness and reverence’ (1 Peter 3:15) is to have the Gospel heard, not merely for the Christian to be liked. If the Gospel is particular, it cannot in a postmodern culture be popular. As early as 1973, Forell says of pluralism in postmodernity that it
is the ideologically most threatening aspect of the modern world ...because it undermines the notion of “one truth” and thus jeopardises the claims of atheists and theists, nationalists and internationalists, totalitarians and democrats (Forell 1973:2).
It may be that the rise of militant humanism in modern Britain probably has as much to do with atheist rationalist frustration at the necessary corollary of credibility afforded Christianity by pluralism, as it does the zeal of evangelical