I ~ p - - -,......... I t ·~ ..... .~ ~,., ( an' 8 . ' :ali}t ilr ftilmnrnmtw tu~ If you are an Episcopal priest, missionary, ~ME AND STAY Christian educator, spouse, or surviving spouse, THREE DAYS you may be eligible for an Honorable Service Grant! I P ease c or more in ormatton. ON us!* ~ To find out more about the many choices available, ' Transportation is not included . please call Suzanne Ujcic at 800-948-1881. <tSOME FOR THE ~IFESTYLE. @\TAY FOR A ~IFETIME.™ WESTMINSTER COMMUNITIES OF FLORIDA • www.WestminsterRetirement .com THE A Holy, Bookish Lent Several hundred books flow through our office each year, and we count it a joy to LIVING decide which works to review in THE L1v1NG CHURCH. This issue ranges from scholarship (Christopher Seitz on theological interpretation of Scripture) to scholarship interacting with the CHURCH laity (Kevin Joseph Haley on An Introduction to the Bible and Genesis for Everyone). THIS ISSUE February 27, 2011 Lent challenges Christians to set aside every­ day pleasures, resist besetting sins, and take NEWS up spiritual disciplines with renewed vigor. Reading books fits especially well with what 4 Mere Anglicanism: Changes in the Air Christians take up for spiritual growth. May this 5 Iranian Church Grows Amid Persecution season of Lent, whether you are reading a book in contemplative solitude or worshiping God with your fellow believers, be a time of BOOKS penance, anticipation, and restoration. Featured Reviews ON THE COVER [See page 8] 8 New Works in the Theological A closeup of the illuminated lett er P in the 1407 Latin Bible on dis­ Interpretation of Scripture play in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, England. It was handwritten in Belgium, by Gerard Brils, for reading aloud in a monaste ry. BY CHRISTOPHERR. SEITZ 12 Balancing Letter and Spirit BY AARON CANTY 15 Textbook and Testimonies BY KEVIN JOSEPH HALEY More Books 17 Life in the Spirit: Spiritual Formation in Theological Perspective 18 Following Christ: A Lenten Reader to Stretch Your Soul CATHOLIC VOICES 23 Editorial: Ecclesiology in the Subjunctive OTHER DEPARTMENTS 20 Cultures 23 Creli enarrant 25 Letters 28 Sunday's Readings 30 People & Places The Living Church is published by the Living Church Foundation. Our historic mission in the LENT BOOK Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion is to support and promote the Catholic and evangelical faith of the one Church, to the end of visible Christian unity throughout the world . ISSUE February 27, 2011 • THE LIVING CHURCH 3 NEWS February 27, 2011 Ugandan Chancellor Praises Education Declaring that "the Church has a mandate from Christ to offer educa­ tion as mission," the Rev. Canon John Senyonyi challenged Anglicans - and Anglicanism - to pursue that goal. He spoke as part of the Anglican District of Virginia's Angli­ can Insights series Jan. 31 in Falls Church. Senyonyi drew from his experience as vice chancellor of Uganda Christian University. The second vice chancellor in UCU's history, Senyonyi was installed Oct. 29 after serving as Chris Humphrey photo deputy vice chancellor in charge of The Rt. Rev. C. Fitzsimons Allison and his wife, Martha, during a reception in their honor at this development and external relations year's Mere Anglicanism conference, which paid tribute to the retired Bishop of South Carolina. since 2006. He succeeded the Rev. Stephen Noll, who retired in August. Senyonyi called UCU the "fore­ Mere Anglicanism:Changes in the Air most player" in Ugandan higher edu­ By Daniel Muth breakup, it's clear that the Anglican cation . Since its inception in 1997, Communion is becoming something UCU has grown substantially in One potentially useful way of different. Even a changing Anglican­ numbers (from less than 300 stu­ oversimplifying the history of the ism must confidently proclaim God's dents at its start to over 10,000 English Church is to describe it in revelation as encountered in his today), programs (today, law is the blocks of approximately 500 years . word written: so agreed the speak­ most popular, and competitive, field Christianity came to Roman Britain ers at the Mere Anglicanism confer ­ of study), and recognition. In 2004, it in the second century. A little under ence Jan. 20-22, meeting under the became the first private university in five centuries later the isolation of theme "Biblical Anglicanism for a Uganda to gain full government Romano-British, resulting from the Global Future: Recovering the accreditation. contraction of the Roman Empire, Power of the Word of God." Senyonyi became a Christian when ended with the arrival of St. Augus­ In "Recovering the Word of God an undergraduate at the University of tine and Benedictine Christianity. A for the Anglican Communion," Arch­ Nairobi, Kenya. His desire was to be little under 500 years later came bishop Mouneer Anis laid out three a professor, so he earned a doctoral 1066 and all that, bringing continen­ themes - the importance of Scrip­ degree in statistical mathematics tal-style Feudalism and making pos ­ ture; Anglicanism's crisis; and how from the University of Melbourne, sible the increasing power of the Anglicanism can recover - that Australia, in 1985. Throughout this papacy, culminating in John's capit­ echoed in other addresses. time, he felt called to ordained min­ ulation in 1215. Just shy of five cen­ The importance of God's word: In istry. "I was teaching with my heart turies after that came Henry VIII and "Recovering the Power of the Word so much into ministry," he said. By the Acts of Supremacy. It has now in Preaching the Gospel of Grace," 1987, "I sensed that God was saying, been a little less than five centuries Lutheran professor Steven Paulson 'Go!'" Soon after he began working since the events of 1534. emphasized Scripture's message of with an evangelical parachurch min­ Whether it's the Anglican Covenant, justification. For Paulson, the life­ istry, African Evangelistic Enter­ GAFCON,devolution into a loose fed­ giving grace proclaimed by Christ prise . During more than a decade eration of independent provinces and his followers ( and their heirs in with the organization , he earned a united primarily by a dedication to the Church) frees us from the deadly master's degree in theology from good citizenship, or a complete (Continued on page 26) Trinity Evangelical Divinity School; 4 THE LIVING CHURCH • February 27, 2011 Visit livingchurch.orgfor daily reports of news about the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. worked as an itinerant evangelist in with bullets. He sent a prayer that he int elligent Christianity" th at com­ a variety of Afiican countries, includ­ had composed, forgiving the mur­ plemented an authentic Persian cul­ ing Egypt; and serve d as the organi­ derers. Dehqani-Tafti spent the last ture more than Islam, threatened the zation's director of evangelization. ten years of his episcopate in exile. revolution. Many more Iranian and But if Senyonyi could not escape Dehqani-Tafti, who died in 2008, British Anglicans were arreste d, his call to the ordained ministry , he believed that Christians building "a imprisoned, and even killed for their also did not have to give up his love Persian chur ch," with "a strong and (Continued on next page) for academia . In 2001 he accepted an offer to join the UCU staff. In reflecting on the state of theo­ logical education within the Anglican NEW DREAMWORKBOOK Communion, Senyonyi expressed concern about "unbelievers teaching USINGBIBLICAL DREAMS TO theology" in Anglican theological cir­ UNLOCKYOUR NIGHTLY DREAMS cles. "I think we're seeing a lot of that This208 page book can be used by bible and study now," he told TLC. "They believe in a groupsas well as by individuals. It is a workbook god they have formed. It's another thatcan t ransformyour life . Iti s onlywhen you put form of idolatry, in my opinion." yourselfinto the mixthat the experiencebecomes Ralph Webb, in Falls Church yours.Everyone inthe groupwill need a workbook. Weoften hear people say, "God doesn't speak Iranian Church Grows to me:'Does God speak to you?The answer is a Amid Persecution resounding"yes," to thosewho know the dream world.This book will lead you s tepby step Few realize that after the Islamic through14 Biblical dreams , unlockingyour Revolution , from the late 1970s nightlydreams, until all of a suddenyou realize thro ugh the 1980s, Iran's Anglicans Godis communicatingwith you in a meaningful were the most severe ly persecuted andfulfilling way. The language is an ancient Christians. Iranian Anglicans wor­ language.It isa languagethat takes you to a shiped in Farsi, which angered deeper placewhere God 'sglory resides. Islamists wanting to portray Chris­ tianity as a Western, imperialist reli­ "Inclear repeated steps and evocative questions , BobHad en suggestsways for us to engag eScripture gion. More important , many Angli­ andour own dreaming, and find in thespaces between them, an unfolding ofourselves and of our faith. cans were converts from Islam. Thisis a workablebook that w ill bringsurprises where it leads." - ANNBELFORD ULANOV The first post-revolution martyr was an Anglican priest, the Rev. PURCHASE ONLINE: www.Hadenlnstitute .com Arastoo Sayyah. Islamists cut the throat of this Muslim convert in his office in Shiraz, southwest Iran, on Feb. 19, 1979, and confiscated the property of the church he led. !Z)~ :,~~e~?.o~~Y~;.~!!;;~~I In October of the same year, the Rt. c o N p E R E N c E • CommonDream Theme s - JeremyTaylor Rev.Hassan Dehqani-Tafti,also a Mus­ Goo·s FORGOTTEN LANGUAGE • TheBe atlesa ndMasc uline Wholeness- Joyce Rockwood Hudson FORBEGIN NERSAS WELL AS ADVANCED INDIVIDUALS • Lions&Tig ers& Bears, OhMy - HeidiDarr-Hope lim convert, and his wife, Margaret, KANUGACONFERENCE CENTER , NC survived an assass ination attempt in • Walkingthe MoonlitPath - ChelseaWakefield their bedroom. Dehqani-Tafti was the • IndividuationandContinuing Incarnation - Bp.