Letter of the Law Vs. Spirit of the Law: Anglican Formularies VS. the Intent of Reformation

When a boat turns over the passengers instinctively grab on to whatever they can to stave off drowning. As the North American church has gone awry, several of the passengers have clung to oversimplified solutions hoping to buoy themselves in the frigid water of secularization and uncertainty. Some cling to formularies such as the 39 Articles, believing they should, and in some cases always have, acted as an Anglican confession that is perfect and timeless in their authority. Others cling to the Bible, loosened from the moorings of the interpretation found throughout the primitive Church, the Fathers. Still others seek to re-invent Anglicanism, merging it into the "Pan-evangelical" movement that does little to assert anything of an identity.

There are two things that must be agreed on as we approach any kind of reform:

1. There has never been a perfect moment by which we can model the Church after: No Freeze Framing!
2. Historic formularies such as the 39 Articles fell victim to the violent changes of the times they were born and must he held in check by the mind of the Christian Church throughout the centuries. The consensus found in the Ecumenical Councils and the undivided One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of the first one thousand years of our Lord provides us with a strong and complete sense of the Christian faith. The same revelation of Scripture and the Holy Spirit should not look very different from what we believe is right in the here and now. Where there is differences, it is up to us to change our pitch to match the harmony of the saints that have gone before.

The second realization actually strengthens "Anglicanism Proper" by honouring the true history of the theology and doctrine of the Anglican Church. Unlike other protestant bodies, Anglicanism isn't marked by sharp breaks and re-breaks in it's history. After the break from Rome, the pendulum swung very reformed, back to very Catholic, and then to alternate points between. It took over one hundred years for the English Reformation to be settled with the thoughtful and cogent works of Richard Hooker, setting the groundwork for a via-media or Middle Way by which to run the course of our faith.

My priest recently met with an Orthodox priest about the use of our parish facilities. In their conversation our Priest explained the Anglican outlook employing Tradition, reason, and experience as guiding lights as we live out our faith (all advocated by Hooker). The Orthodox priest replied with the eastern orthodox perspective saying " We have Tradition, Tradition, and Tradition".

St. Vincent of Lerrins ancient cannon, "we take the greatest care to hold that which has been believed everywhere, always and by all", gives us a very safe understanding of the Christian faith, and this rule of faith as established by the ancient and undivided Church is the very essence by which any formlarie of the Church needs to be judged or interpreted. It is this lens of the entire history of the Church that keeps us believing what is reasonable and determines what should and should not shape our experience.

Back to the reformation; it was the will of the reformers to purge the church of those practices that had arisen as traditions of men that had no basis in the continuing Apostolic Tradition, Bible, or what was repugnant to these two. The English reformation was also some what of a fluid principle, a gentleman's agreement that allowed a workable solution based on a Creedal Christianity as apposed to the legislated authority of the Roman Church or puritanical reformers at home or abroad.

Anglicanisms chrism lies in the grease between the wheels that affords a certain variety, a moral and philosophical exchange that  gives the process of religion legs. We posses a unique quality of allowance, that is willing to work in the mess of humanity. Our call is that of the Good Samaritan, being willing to take on the mess of humanity, willing to mend the wounds the Levite and priest were not. In our zeal to restore some kind of order and function to our common life and ministries, we must still be willing to engage the mess of brokenness instead of reciting formularies that are rigidly set in a certain time and place.

By looking to the grand Tradition of the Christian Church, especially that of the early fathers and doctors, we find a constant theme of holiness and orthodoxy that the reformers sought to re-gain; this should still be our goal. Our choice is clear, follow the letter of the law and risk losing many essentials of our faith, or be led by the spirit of the the law which seeks to understand the very essence of the thing we hold so dear. Orthodoxy is found in the witness of the church that has gone before and can be seen in the consistency of it's thought, will, and actions as they are consistent with the revelation found in Scripture.

Jeff Wilson

portions in quotation are taken from:

"Anglicanism Proper"
By deathbredon
http://rtbp.wordpress.com/author/deathbredon/
May 2010