The serious and sometimes satirical reflections of a priest, poet, and pilgrim — who knowing he has not obtained the goal, presses on in a Godward direction.
June 23, 2007
Oxymoron
Thought for today (June 23, 2007):
Anglican Communion is fast becoming a contradiction in terms.
... and yes, I know that oxymoron is only loosely used for a "contradiction in terms."
It looks like the sun is at last setting on the British Empire (more or less the same lands as the Anglican Communion: US + Commonwealth). Might this church breakup have been inevitable once the force of the English state (even indirectly like in the US, back when Britain was the world power) no longer artificially held the various churchmanships - Catholic, Central, Evangelical and Broad - together?
Eastern Orthodoxy is an interesting contrast - decentralised polity (no Pope; a communion of independent churches) much like Anglicanism but an amazing unity of belief and even practice, much like traditional Roman Catholicism (different languages but the rite is traditional and more or less the same in Greece, Russia etc.). The 'calendar wars' (Julian vs Gregorian) and resulting splits are a drop in the bucket - and IMO really about culture not religion.
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It looks like the sun is at last setting on the British Empire (more or less the same lands as the Anglican Communion: US + Commonwealth). Might this church breakup have been inevitable once the force of the English state (even indirectly like in the US, back when Britain was the world power) no longer artificially held the various churchmanships - Catholic, Central, Evangelical and Broad - together?
ReplyDeleteEastern Orthodoxy is an interesting contrast - decentralised polity (no Pope; a communion of independent churches) much like Anglicanism but an amazing unity of belief and even practice, much like traditional Roman Catholicism (different languages but the rite is traditional and more or less the same in Greece, Russia etc.). The 'calendar wars' (Julian vs Gregorian) and resulting splits are a drop in the bucket - and IMO really about culture not religion.