Sunday, September 26, 2010

If you are Anglican you'll buy the book.

Dear Readers,

You may be aware that the Archbishop of Canterbury has given an interview to the London Times which gave rise to a headline this morning 'Gay bishops are all right by me, says Archbishop'_with The Times religious affairs correspondent Ruth Gledhill commenting that the Archbishop is _'an honest man struggling to square an impossible circle'. She also noted:

'Charles Raven, the conservative evangelical, in his new book, 'Shadow Gospel: Rowan Williams and the Anglican Communion Crisis', published next month by Latimer Press, writes of Dr Williams’s leadership as a tragedy in which “the weight of an historic institution and the resourcefulness of a deeply learned mind are brought to bear in an attempt to sustain the unsustainable”.'

I am writing now to let you know that my book has in fact been published a little earlier than anticipated and is now available from Latimer Trust at http://www.latimertrust.org/sg.htm. There is still much confusion about what Dr Williams believes and stands for, as this latest press coverage makes clear, and I believe that my book offers some timely clarifications. Although there is undoubtedly a tragic quality about what is happening to the Anglican Communion, I have written with a very constructive purpose. My negative conclusion - that Dr Williams offers us a shadow gospel, a theology which has the form of othodox faith, but not its real substance - points to a postive alternative, that the Anglican Communion can recover its identity and coherence by gathering around the apostolic gospel as affirmed by the leaders of the spiritually dynamic Global South and so clearly articulated in the GAFCON Jerusalem Declaration.

Here is an extract from the preface in which I set out the essential argument of the book:

Although signs of hope are undoubtedly emerging, a secure future for the Anglican Communion rests on an accurate diagnosis of its present ills. In this account of Rowan Williams’ leadership as Archbishop of Canterbury a kind of tragedy unfolds, in which the weight of an historic institution and the resourcefulness of a deeply learned mind are brought to bear in an attempt to sustain the unsustainable – an illusory middle ground between two fundamentally opposed visions of Anglican identity.

The one is confessional and is being articulated with increasing confidence by the leadership of the Global South; the other represents the seduction of the Church by the spirit of the age, as seen in its most developed form in the increasingly apostate behaviour of The Episcopal Church in the United States. This analysis demonstrates that Dr Williams’ theology is not only alien to the former, but also powerless to resist the latter and, in practice, the result is a doctrinally incoherent Communion barely held together by a mixture of sentiment and improvisation.

The understanding offered here is that at the heart of these difficulties is a shadow gospel; a theological project which can speak the language of orthodox faith, yet subverts the supremacy of Scripture and the essential nature of Christian truth itself.

This shadow gospel privileges form over substance and under Rowan Williams’ leadership the pragmatic ethos of Anglican Communion institutions has sat comfortably with this emphasis upon ecclesiastical process rather than doctrinal content, as exemplified by the Windsor Covenant and the associated listening programme of so called ‘indaba’. But these strategies are manifestly failing and it is now time to take seriously the calls emerging from the Global South for what we might call a ‘new wineskin’ of governance structures which will free Anglicanism to express its true confessional identity and make a fresh start in the re-evangelisation of the West.

Thank you for reading this far! By writing a book it has been possible to explore the theological issues which recur in the regular SPREAD articles in more depth and I hope you will find it an encouragement as we seek to 'take every thought captive to obey Christ' (2 Cor. 10:5). I have included recommendations from colleagues below, as they appear on the cover of the book, which provide a measure of reassurance to me and also, I hope, to you!

Yours in Christ,

Charles Raven

“There have been other discussions of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s theology, but this is the first serious attempt to link it with his ecclesiastical policy. The parallel seems to be drawn very tellingly.”

The Revd Dr Roger Beckwith, formerly warden of Latimer House, Oxford.

“Charles Raven has provided convincing evidence about the real problem facing us in the Church of England and how this has affected the wider Anglican Communion. He argues that we are experiencing not so much an ecclesial deficit as a confessional one. His book is an excellent introduction to the deeper issues that sooner or later will affect us all.”

Rt. Rev John Ellison, Retired Bishop of Paraguay and Hon. Asst. Bishop in the Diocese of Winchester.

“Archbishop Rowan Williams is the most significant theologian influencing the Anglican Communion at the moment. Therefore it is important for orthodox Anglicans to understand his thinking. Charles Raven has performed a great service by going through Archbishop Williams’ work carefully and helping us to see the foundations of his thought and the direction in which he is going.”

Canon Dr Vinay Samuel, Church of South India and Convenor of GAFCON Theological Resource Group.

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