Aiya Iluvatar

"Being an Anglican"

Crusty Old Dean comments on the resolution from the Church of England's (CofE) Synod to reaffirm their relationsip with the Episcopal Church while, "the Synod motion has given Church of England affirmation to the desire of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) to remain in some sense within the  Anglican family." Tom puts it this way:

This report is good news. Translated from Church of England speak, it basically means, "Nothing's gonna happen with ACNA for a long, long time. This is what "open ended" engagement means.

via crustyoldean.blogspot.com

"Affirming" a "desire" does nothing other than acknoledge that ACNA wants to be in the communion. "Anglican Family" is as undefined a term in Anglican Ecclesiology as "Enemy Combatant" is in the Geneva Convention.  This is a pretty vague pat on the back from Lambeth.

Tom spends some time in the article comparing the Anglican Communion to the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and points out that all members of the Federation recognize the orders of the other, even if their jurisdictions overlap.  The problem with the case of the ACNA is that many of them would refuse to recognize our orders, many of them being held by women.

The root is in the myth of an "Anglican Church" that many people hold.  The Anglican Church is the CofE.  The Anglican Communion is a family of autonomous churches bound by "bonds of affection."  We really are a federation, whether we want to admit it or not, as the LWF is also a "Communion of Churches."  To claim we were more than this, (i.e., a church) juridical power would have to be exercised in between provinces, which is something not even contenanced in the proposed covenant. Those in ACNA that claim we are an "Anglican Church" don't want to be added to the Anglican Communion, they want to replace us.  

There is a lot of romaticism out there about being an "Anglican."  But in the strictest sense, only members of the CofE are truly Anglican. In my experience, when an American starts waxing abouty being "Anglican,"  It usually boils down to some sort of vague appreciation for tea, evensong and the 1637 Scottish eucharisitc canon.  They seem to do this quite often without understading that they are not using the 1662 English canon, and what a thumbing of the nose at the CofE adopting that canon was.  Anglophilia does not make one Anglican.

This is why people can join the new Anglican Ordinariate, play act as Anglicans, and not recognize that they have left something essential behind.  If Anglicanism is nothing but a minor derivation of the Western Rite, then they are correct.  But if Anglicanism is the actual religion espoused by Hooker and Donne and Taylor and Ferrar as a Via Media, then leaving the Anglican Communion for whatever wtipe of purity they seek is not a reaffirmation, but a repudiation (perhaps a refudiation?)

In America, if you are a member of the Episcopal Church, you are an Episcopalian.  Because of our participation in the Communion's "Instruments of Unity," we can lay some claim to being "Anglican." Beyond that, all of those who follow the trappings of Anglicanism might certainly be called part of the "Anglican Family,"  which really does not contain any recognition with it.  After all, everyone you are related to is part of your family, whether they are healthy and sane or not.

Behold! The LOTR Aragorn LEGO Poster! | Hobbit Movie News and Rumors | TheOneRing.net™

Those of us who are anxiously awaiting the upcoming The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit LEGO sets get an additional tease today! Hot off the presses, here is LEGO The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Aragorn Poster. I think it is safe to say that Viggo never looked so good as a LEGO! If you were not aware, LEGO has announced recently they will be producing items for The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the upcoming The Hobbit films. Collectibles are set to be released this coming Summer. Jump on over to LEGO’s official site for The Lord of the Rings and keep watching TheOneRing.net for more updates! [Official Site] [Download the Poster PDF] [Read the Announcement]

via www.theonering.net

OMG! LOTR LEGOS!

WotC Announces 5th Edition D&D: Should We Care? | GeekDad | Wired.com

On Monday, Wizards of the Coast announced that work is already under way on the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons. An article in the New York Times by GeekDad contributor Ethan Gilsdorf details some of the recent history and philosophy that underlies the new development, while a Legends & Lore article by Mike Mearls reveals that part of the process will involve an open play-testing, with rules, classes, monsters and other material being revealed through the D&D website for playtesters to try at their own tables and provide feedback, thereby shaping the development of the game.

via www.wired.com

Schism as a Virus

Watching the "Withdrawal" or whatever it is of the Anglican Mission In America (AMIA) from the Anglican Church of Rwanda has been interesting.  For those of you not in the know, the AMIA was formed in 2000 as a reaction to the "theological liberalism" of the Episcopal Church.  In order to be strictly "Anglican," one has to be in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury through a church in the Anglican Communion.  AMIA's tie was through Rawanda, but that relationship flew to pieces last month over what appears to be personality conflicts among bishops.  While many try to put a brave face on it, AMIA member Mark Galli calls it for what it is:

I think it critical in such times that we say what a thing is–only the truth will set us free. And this thing that happened has a name: schism.  All the AMIA bishops who have resigned are schismatics.

This is a hard sentence to write and to read, because these are otherwise godly men, whose leadership we have admired.  Some we call friends and colleagues.  But there is no other word to describe what they’ve done other than the word schism.

This is troubling, first, because it contradicts Jesus’ expressed prayer for the unity of the church. Second, it threatens to make a lie of AMIA’s posture when we first left the Episcopal Church.  Some accused us of schism at the time, and we responded in one of two ways:  (1) It is not schism if the church we departed had lost its Christian moorings. Or (2) if it is schism, then it is one of the rare exceptions in which schism is the lesser evil. In either case, we held aloft a couple of theological ideals that were motivating us: The authority of Scripture and sexual/moral integrity. We did not leave on a point of personal inspiration.

In my opinion, "Threatens to make a lie of AMIA's posture when we first left the Episcopal Church" should be changed to "Removes the theological smokescreen our leadership used to justify schism."  I'm in the process of reading Douglas Bess' Divided We Stand, which is a history of the "Continuing Anglican Movement."  It's reads kind of like a "bodice ripper" version of Don Armentrout's Episcopal Splinter Groups.  The AMIA is just one of many groups who have left the Episcopal Church over the years for various presenting reasons, from the Reformed Episcopal Church in the 1800s to the Anglican Ordinariates just a few days ago.  However, whatever the presenting reasons, there's always a subtext of bishops behaving badly, and it always seems to follow a particular course:

1. Dissident leaders become frustrated by lack of personal advancement in Episcopal Church.
2. Dissident movement latches onto theological debate du jour.
3. When enough dissidents gather, a loose confederation is formed around their dislike of the Episcopal Church, even if there is little else in common.
4. Dissident confederation leaves Episcopal Church claiming that they are not leaving, but that the church has left them.
5. Dissident confederation creates looser ecclesiological structure and canons that empowers dissident leaders.
6. Dissident confederation ordains many more bishops than it needs, often using Episcopi Vagantes.
7. Dissident confederation cracks apart along papered-over faultlines ignored when the confederation is formed.
8. Remaining dissident groups merge and fracture with amazing frequency, with the bishops sometimes becoming Episcopi Vagantes themselves.

It almost seems to be a viral process designed to create more Episcopi Vagantes.  The speed varies.  The Reformed Episcopal Church is still around, although it has lately become part of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).  (Interestingly, the ACNA was also the name of a group formed after the St. Louis Congress in 1977 in opposition to women's ordination and which split apart later over churchmanship issues.)  But ACNA faces it's own internal problems with women's ordination and other issues that didn't seem so huge when the Episcopal Church was the big bad wolf, but are starting to rear their ugly heads now that they have had time to start getting to know each other.

Perhaps schism really is viral.

Mitt Romney as a D&D Character? NYC Show Celebrates Art and Gaming | GeekDad | Wired.com

Today and tomorrow mark what looks to be an exciting series of events in New York City that celebrate the impact and continued relevance of Dungeons & Dragons on the culture.

via www.wired.com

Happy Birthday, JRR Tolkien

From TheOneRing

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, S.A., on January 3, 1892. He would eventually move to England, become an accomplished linguist and scholar, an Oxford professor and a beloved husband and father. While in his twenties, he began developing a series of stories that went on to become the rich, complex history of a place called Middle-earth: a world that millions would eventually visit, both on the written page and on the big screen, and come to love. TheOneRing.net raises a glass to “The Professor!” today, in honor of all the enjoyment and camaradarie his birth, and life, has lead to. Thank you, professor Tolkien!

louie, louie: Poetry is not, and is against, magic

Poetry is not, and is against, magic

Photo by Thomas Merton

I am reading Rowan Williams’ book of essays about Merton now.  Rowan is a noted critic of poetry and there is an essay about poetry, where Williams says [that Merton says] that poetry isn’t, and is against, magic.

“‘It is the businessman, the propagandist, the politician, not the poet, who devoutly believes in the magic of words.’, writes Merton, ‘for the poet, there is precisely no magic, only life in all its unpredictability and freedom.  All magic is a ruthless venture into manipulation, a vicious circle, a self-fulfilling prophecy.’  Words that ‘work’, independent of their transparency to truth, are magical words.  They live without anchorage in reality.  They exist in order to exercise power, to control or develop a situation according to the will of the speaker.”

via fatherlouie.blogspot.com