Consensus Volume 12 Issue 1 The Canadian Lutheran-Anglican Dialogue: Article 2 1983-1986 11-1-1986 Authority in Anglicanism John M. Flynn Follow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus Recommended Citation Flynn, John M. (1986) "Authority in Anglicanism," Consensus: Vol. 12 : Iss. 1 , Article 2. Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol12/iss1/2 This Articles is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by an authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. ^ Authority in Anglicanism John M. Flynn The Church is a pilgrim people, in the process of discovering God’s e| truth as it seeks to respond faithfully to the particular challenges and opportunities of its own time and place. Such a statement inevitably raises questions about the man- ner in which this “pilgrim people” goes about “the process of discovering God’s truth”, about what is authoritative and how it is authoritative. And since this statement comes from an Anglican source, the questions it raises are about what is au- thoritative for Anglicans and how it is authoritative for them. With the rest of Western civilization, Anglicans have in- herited notions of authority that were originally grounded in I Roman culture. ^ That authority is three-fold: (a) the respect, I dignity or importance of the person concerned; (b) the qua- I lity of concerned; (c) the office or function fulfilled, I the person Only persons are subjects of authority; to speak of something, j is in I such as a book, as authoritative to use the term a deriva- ^ tive sense.