Durham E-Theses The Lambeth conferences and the development of Anglican ecclesiology, 1867 - 1978 Thomas, Philip H. E. How to cite: Thomas, Philip H. E. (1982) The Lambeth conferences and the development of Anglican ecclesiology, 1867 - 1978, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/7671/ 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 2 ABSTRACT The Iambeth Conferences and the development of Anglican ecclesiology. 1867 - 1978 by Philip H.E. Thomas. The discussion of Anglican ecciesiology usually concentrates on particular periods of the Church of England's history. This thesis proceeds from the standpoint of the Anglican Communion. When Anglicans found themselves to be outside the bounds of the English establisliment, they were forced to make a response to their new social, political and religious environment. They did this by founding Churches upon the basis of voluntary compacts and organising them under constitutional synods. This thesis argues first that the new challenges led to a changed perspective on received Anglican doctrine and liturgies, episcopal government and the Church's relationship to the State, and secondly, that in the light of this experience Anglicans have transformed the definition of their own communion and the claims made for the whole Anglican theological tradition. It is in this second area that the Lambeth Conferences are important. By reference to the Conferences' discussion of Christian unity and Anglican organization (often utilising previously unexamined records) the thesis examines the debates over Anglican doctrine, authority, organization and mission. Successive expositions of the Iambeth Quadrilateral form one line of investigation together with a recognition of the ambiguous position of the English reformation formularies in the Anglican Communion. Another approach is taken through the developing conviction that Anglicanism consists of a fellowship of "national Churches". With these debates underlying questions of authority, comprehensiveness, conciliarity and ministry are also considered within the framework of gathering Anglican self-consciousnes3„ A number of such elements of theory are finally tested by their capacity to assist Anglicanism in its adaptation to changing theological, ecumenical and social pressures0 The study concludes that, in the Iambeth Conference documents, the Anglican Communion is able to present a distinct, though not unique, and by no means final contribution to Anglican and ecumenical theology„ The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior wrirten consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. THE IAMBETH CONFERENCES AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANG-LICA1 ECCLI3I0L0GY 1867 - 1978 by Philip Harold Eralyn Thomas A thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, to the University of Durham following research conducted in the Department of Theology in that University. 1982 TAB1E0FC0NTEOTS CHAPTER 0H5: Introduction: the Problem of Anglican Ecclesiologyo 1. The problem defined 2. The method adopted 3. The development of Anglican ecclesiology 4. The immediate background to the development of ecclesiology in the Anglican Communion CHAPTER TWO: The Emergence of Anglicanism 1. The Anglican Communion: from Colonial agency to indigenous churches 2. The Church of England: from Christian commonwealth to voluntary society 3P Anglicanism: from a national church to a world communion CHAPTER THREE: Anglican Beliefs: declared doctrine in the Anglican Communion 1. The standards of Anglican belief (a) Theological definition in the early Conferences (b) The Iambeth Quadrilateral 2. The Quest for Unity (a) The Quadrilateral elaborated (b) The Iambeth Appeal (c) The Appeal discussed 3o Anglican comprehensiveness CHAPTER FOUR: Anglican Authority 1. Structures of Anglican authority (a) The centre of Anglican authority (i) The Iambeth Conferences; (ii) a central advisory body; (iii) metropolitical authority; (iv) the Archbishop of Canterbury; (v) Confe ssion and Liturgy (b) The doctrine of "dispersed" authority 2. Patterns of Anglican Authority CO Constitutional material in the Anglican Con: lunion (b) Standards of Anglican doctrine (i) A universal faith 1r.,, (ii) A particular expression n ^ (c) The exercise of authority :0.: (i) disciplinary authority; . \V. (ii) the locus of ecclesiastical authority; 2C3 (iii) the extent of such authority 205 (d) Mstropolitical authority 207 3o The nature and unity of the Anglican Communion 212 (a) The ideals of the Anglican Communion: Lambeth 1930 213 (i) timer's vision 215 (ii) The Conference's assessment 22.0 (b) The status of the Lambeth Conference - The reality of Anglican conciliarism 227 CHAPTER FIVE: Renewal in Faith, Unity and Mission. 239 1. Renewal in faith: the 1968 Conference and declared doctrine 2/+1 (a) The role of the Thirty-nine Articles 241 (b) The use of the Quadrilateral 253 2. Renewal in Unity: structures of Anglican self-expression 266 (a) The Anglican Congresses - a quest for mutuality 2.67 (b) The Anglican Consultative Council - the need for consultation 270 (c) Multi-lateral conversations - the need for common action 2;i0 3. Renewal for mission: the test of Anglican credibility 285 (a) The Church, the laity and a changing social order 286 (b) Anglicanism and the renewal of mission 295 CHAPTER SIX: Summary and Conclusion 3C7 NOTES 314 BIBLIOGRAPHY 377 Declaration No part of thi:; thesis has boon previously subnittod for a decree in this or any other university. Statement of copyright 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. CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION 5 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION ; THE PROBLEM OF ANGLICAN ECCLESIOLOGY. In February 1846, John Henry Newman turned his back on Oxford and on the Church of England. For him five years of heart- searching were over and the long anticipated parting of friends (1) had become a reality. Almost immediately the Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine set forth a positive defence of his new allegiance, but nearly four years were to elapse before Newman published the supplementary reasons for his decision; his perception of the shortcomings of the Anglican Church. After theological study and ordination in Rome, Newman returned to establish an Oratory in Birmingham and there, in an address entitled "Prospects of a Catholic Missioner11, he undertook tc describe various competing religious systems. By comparison with Rome none could lay claim to any degree of Catholicity, he concluded, but the Church of England was singled out for comment: It is its establishment which erects it into a unity and individuality; can you contemplate it, though you stimulate your imagination to the task, abstracted from its churches, palaces, colleges, parsonages, civil precedence, and national position? Strip it of this world, and it has been a mortal operation, for it has ceased to be. (2) Not only did Anglicanism exist by virtue of its social status, it survived by disadvantaging all other, non-established bodies. It was in fact no more than a passive extension of the English state. As such it was even less credible than Methodism or Congregationalism which, although misguided, at least sought to justify themselves by appeal to theological convictions. In the Church of England, claimed Newman, there were no convictions left. It lacked any "church idea". It was a church in name alone. 6 1. THE PROBLEM DEFINED. Newman's accusation is a fitting prologue to a study of Lambex,h Conference documents and the development of the Anglican Communion in general for two reasons. First, it raises a fundamental question for Anglican ecclesiology. Can Anglicans summon a coherent theological account of their claim to be part of the universal Church, or, is the existence of Anglican Churches merely the result of a succession of historical accidents, doctrinal confusions and ecclesiastical compromises? The social context in which even the Church of England operates has changed markedly since Newman's day, but when he claimed that its life was primarily a cultural and political and not a spiritual reality, he threw down a gauntlet that Anglicans are still unable to step over with impunity. The Lambeth papers offer indirect but important ripostes to this challenge. Secondly, the papers do this because the Conferences from which they stemmed were themselves the outcome of a remarkable transformation which began to overtake the Church of England at the very time in which Newman wrote, and which eventuated in a transformed self-estimation of the place occupied by the Anglican Communion in the spectrum of world Christianity. In some measure, the mere extension of the Church of England "beyond the seas", the planting of indigenous organizations and leadership around the globe, and the formation of a world-wide Anglican Communion might seem to offer a refutation of the change (3) that state patronage alone animates Anglican life. v ' The story of that expansion contains many notable examples of Christian devotion and missionary endeavour. ^ Furthermore, since the mid-nineteenth century*Anglicans have progressively learnt to live without the support of the state, and often in the face of active 7 hostility from it. Non-established Churches have become not just an exception to the rule but the norm for Anglican life and practice.