Durham E-Theses Towards an Anglican theology of Laity Ferns, Stephen Antony Dunbar How to cite: Ferns, Stephen Antony Dunbar (1993) Towards an Anglican theology of Laity, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5746/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk UNIVERSITY ow DURHAM TOWARDS AN ANGLICAE3 THEOLOGY OF LAITY A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF ARTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS THE DEPARTMENT OF THEOLOGY by REVDo STEPHEN ANTONY DUNBAR FERNS 1993 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. flI MAY » I *Towards a& &agli©a& Tleelegy ©£ Ejaifey' Uy R©vd St©jpSi@a &ato:ay EMa&as' Farms A Tresis s*abiaitt©dl to th® JPaenalty of arts for tfa© elegr©© ©£ Mast©? ©f Arts 3L@f)3 This thesis undertakes two tasks. Firstly, it traces the development of an understanding of the role of the laity within the Church of England from 1530 until 1985. Secondly, in the light of the historical data it attempts to posit a theology of laity which would be sustainable within the Church of England. It will be shown that the Church of England has been operating two ecclesiological models: one which allows for the development of a strong theology of the laity, the other which allows for the development of a strong theology of holy orders (which has historically displaced the laity). At particular periods in its history the Church of England has witnessed the ascendancy of one or other of these models. This thesis will attempt to explain the reasons for these shifts in ecclesiological emphasis. From the historical analysis it will be argued that three significant issues arise which are pertinent to a theology of the laity: the worldly vocation of the laity and its relation to mission; the authority of the laity and its relation to decision-making within the Church; and the inter-relation between the laity and the ordained. Each of these issues will be explored as a basis for constructing a contemporary theology of laity. The thesis will also be concerned to acknowledge those restraints which have been operating within Anglicanism to constrict the smooth development of the laity. Chief among them is the professional reaction of the clerical profession. This thesis will in its advocacy of a sustainable theology of laity attempt to examine and overcome those restraints. II None of the material in this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree in this of any other university„ This thesis is entirely my own work. STATEMENT 05" COPTOIGHT The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior consent and information from it should be acknowledged. Ill ABSTRACT I DECLARATION AND STATEMENT OF COPYRIGHT II CONTENTS III INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER I: AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE LAITY IN 11 THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 1530=1914 1. The Henrician Reformation and 12 the Anglican Settlement a) The role of the monarch 13 b) Richard Hooker and the 16 government of the Church c) The authority of the laity 19 2. The 1662 Act of Uniformity 24 3. The Eighteenth Century Church 27 4. The Nineteenth Century Church 30 a) The perceived role of the laity 32 b) The professionalizing of 38 the clergy c) The professionalizing of 43 differentiated laity d) The development of the Church 48 of England's organization CHAPTER II: AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE LAITY IN THE 57 CHURCH OF ENGLAND 1914-1985 1. Historical and Cultural Trends 58 2. Church Government 63 3. Theological Thinking on the Role of 74 the Laity a) The place of the laity 75 in the Church b) The place of the laity 83 in the world 4. Councils: Anglican, Catholic and Ecumenical 89 a) Lambeth Conferences 1948-78 90 b) The Second Vatican Council 97 1962-65 c) The World Council of Churches 100 1948-82 IV 5. The Differentiated Laity 105 a) Readers 105 b) Evangelists 109 c) Deaconesses 112 d) Questions raised by 114 differentiated laity 6. Liturgical Developments 116 a) The Parish and People Movement 116 b) The writings of Bishop John 118 Robinson c) Recent litugical developments 121 d) Lay presidency at the Eucharist 126 7. Educational developments 129 a) The 1960's 131 b) The early 1980's 134 8. Recent Church of England Reports 1983-85 138 a) The Tiller Report: A Strategy 139 for the Church's Ministry (1983) b) The General Synod Board of Education 145 Report: All Are Called (1985) c) The Archbishop of Canterbury's 154 Commission on Urban Priority Areas Report: Faith in the City (1985) CHAPTER III: A CONTEMPORARY AGENDA 158 1„ A Review of the Historical Evidence 159 2. Towards a Contemporary Theology of Laity 168 a) The involvement of God 179 in the world b) The nature of the Church 182 c) The relatedness of the ordained 187 and unordained d) The sacred and the secular: the 200 priesthood of the laity 3. The Implications of a Contemporary 206 Theology of Laity a) Summary of the contemporary theology of laity 206 b) The implications 208 4. Towards a Justification of the Contemporary 222 Theology of Laity Posited in the Light of Anglican Sources of Authority CONCLUSION 230 BIBLIOGRAPHY 23 6 1 INTRODUCTION The principal concern of this thesis is to identify and explore the development of understanding within the Church of England of the roles and expectations of its laity. The issues raised and addressed are primarily ecclesiological in nature. They are to do with the distribution and exercise of power; how a church settles (or fails to settle) its organisational difficulties; the character of the dialogue between a Church's theory and practice, its theology and polity. How the laity have been perceived within the Church of England is traced through a long period of time and is set within the shifting contexts of English society. Most of this thesis consists of a broad chronological narrative, incorporating both how developing theology related to the laity and how the theological rhetoric related to practice. Before examining in greater depth the content of this thesis and its focus, it is important to attend to some basic definitions of terms that will be used throughout the thesis and to acknowledge some of the widely recognized difficulties associated with them. The terms to be considered are xlaity', xAnglican', ^Church of England' and *Anglican theology'. The term xlaity' can be confusing. For many the use of *lay' carries a negative reference - * only' a lay person. 2 The implication is that in the Church a lay person is unskilled, unknowledgeable and unqualified. It is often seen as a description of *what is not' (that is, not an ordained person). Some stress that laity refers to *the whole people of God' and suggest that a better word is simply ^Christian'. Others wish to use *lay' simply as a distinction from the ordained so that the laity refers to everybody except the ordained, Christians and non-Christians alike. There is a proper sense in which the laity and the ordained ministry together make up the laos or the whole People of God, so that both participate in an mutually supportive partnership. For the purposes of this thesis, the word laity refers to those whose Christian discipleship does not take the form of the ordained ministry. The word * laity' is not intended to diminish the value of people by defining them as lacking in expertise, but is used rather to point to people's discipleship as a participation in God's presence and action in the world. All clergy and laity together are to share in a discipleship of faithful obedience to God's will as discerned through the Church in each generation. The terms ^Anglican' and *Anglicanism' derive chronologically from the Latin Anglicanus, and the expression ecclesia Anglicana was commonly used to refer to the English Medieval Church. At the Reformation, the term was invoked to emphasise the Reformers' two-fold claim of continuity with the ancient church and independence of foreign (Papal) jurisdiction. Thus the Act of 1534 3 conferring Royal Supremacy spoke of the sovereign as *the only supreme head of the Church of England called Anglicana Ecclesia'. By the nineteenth century the word Anglican began to shed its national connotations and began to refer more specifically to a distinct theological position. Thus Burke refers to * Catholics, Anglicans or Calvinists', Macaulay to Anglican doctrine and discipline and Gladstone to Anglican orders.1 For the purpose of this report the term Anglican will mean ^pertaining to the theology and practice of the Church of England'. What is at issue with the term xChurch of England' is its origins. This thesis takes as its starting point the sixteenth century: the historical account of the Church of England is seen to begin at the Reformation.