The Anglican Evangelical Crisis

The Anglican Evangelical Crisis: a radical agenda for a Bible-based church
Edited by Melvin Tinker
Christian Focus Publications. 222 pages. £7.99
ISBN 1 85792 183 6

'In the life of churches . . . there come moments of truth and decision when issues of principle that have long been ducked have to be faced, fences that have long been sat on have to be abandoned, and choices that have long been postponed have at last to be made.'
Few can be unmoved by such words, from such a man as Dr. J.I. Packer. The snag is that he wrote them in 1968, introducing a controversy which now seems almost trivial compared with the crisis set out in these essays. In his piece on Anglican comprehensiveness in the present volume, Dr. Packer does not quite repeat himself; crying 'Wolf!' for 30 years induces hoarseness in the shouters as well as incredulity in the audience.

Rival manifesto

But wolves there are, and a growing pack. A similar collection entitled Evangelical Anglicans, edited by Dick France and Alister McGrath, appeared in 1993. To judge from Melvin Tinker's review in EN at the time, he did not think much of it. His own symposium is not quite a blow-by-blow riposte, but it carries more than a hint of rival manifesto.
Each book fields a team of writers on roughly the same pitch. The first group was linked with Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, while claiming to speak to and for the wider church. This one has a better global perspective, a broader age range, and a far greater depth of local church experience - it shows. Curiously, both books have their own built-in reviews as final chapters: the first by Anglo-Catholic bishop Richard Holloway, and this by Dr. Don Carson. At least Dr. Carson knows what all 22 are up to, and is in a position to oversee the whole match.
The editor's Preface is crystal clear: 'crisis' was one word missing from the earlier book. David Holloway then opens his view of the church in an English historical context. This Holloway is a safer guide than the other; unlike bishops and academics, he speaks of 'common sense'. He is for Hooker, local churches and a new Reformation against both liberalism and defeatism. But can the nation go on waiting?
Mark Thompson expounds six evangelical essentials (and Melvin Tinker appears to relate them to kingdom-theology, experience-driven policy and hermeneutical conjuring). He also enlarges on the evangelical doctrine of the church, since some non-evangelicals claim not to have noticed it. In fact, it is the Anglo-Catholics who have no such thing; they parade an overheated view of episcopacy and sacraments, and call this their doctrine of church and ministry.
Douglas Spanner offers a graciously provocative view of men and women, strikingly relating their respective gifts and roles to church leadership, while Os Guinness writes about the power of words in an age of images. The ears have it.
Rachel Tingle aims at the church's political agenda, but her own stance leaves me uneasy. Must we wait for everyone to be converted before we call for justice and compassion? Suppose they then go on making cigarettes, roads and poison gas? Should we provide care for refugees in Britain, but do nothing about the asylum laws which make care so urgent? If we had all followed her path, apartheid would surely still be in place.

Outstanding

But two chapters stood out for me as having most to say, and two more for rocking the boat most fatally. In asserting the authority of Scripture, Gerald Bray poses awkward questions for all of us, Anglican or not, who imagine that they, at least, are in the right. Peter Adams takes this a stage further in examining our preaching programmes and practices. The Church of England has two alternative Lectionaries of round-the-year readings, flexible but obligatory. How can anyone who believes in Peter Adams's principles tie himself to such a scheme? How can anyone swear loyalty to it if he has no intention of following it?
But the boat-rocking or edifice-splitting chapters are by Field and Woodhouse. David Field on homosexuality is a model of balanced exposition which may leave readers uneasy wherever they come on the spectrum of sexuality or theology. His final questions challenge every church: how can we leave 'gays' to be cared for solely by gays?
John Woodhouse appeals for an end to clergy-based Communion services, shrewdly calling Cranmer as a witness for 'lay presidency'. 'Presidency' is, of course, the wrong word, but he leaves us guessing what limits to place on this aspect of leadership.
These issues seem most likely to blow apart what is left of Anglican unity. Both are in the forefront of Reform, which may remain for now as unpopular as this book. Those who align themselves with either are out of favour with liberals because they can no longer be accused of fearing change: with Catholics because they have called the bluff on hyper-episcopacy; with bureaucrats because they refuse to foot the bill for a crumbling centralism; and with other evangelicals who feel guilty at not joining them, since at heart they believe the same things.
The hints here of like-minded fellowships within denominations were heard back in the 1960s, and to be credible today need more flesh and bone, as well as breath.
But that should not stop anyone appreciating the significant markers put down by this necessary collection - even if you prefer to begin at the end with Don Carson.

The Anglican Evangelical Crisis

Rival manifesto

Outstanding

Christopher Idle

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