(European emissaries kowtow before the Chinese Emperor c. 1800) Has Pope Francis too rashly kissed the proffered toe of President Xi Jinping ? When it comes to extravagant postural gestures from those seeking to treat with them, the Papacy and the Imperial Chinese Court have long histories replete with a perhaps surprising degree of symmetry.Chinese Emperors were honoured with the kowtow (kau tauin Cantonese or koutouin Mandarin) which was a form of prostration in which … [Read more...]
Is the Prayer Book Evangelistic ? – Part I
Is the historic Prayer Book an evangelistic liturgy? Can a church that uses one of the classical Prayer Books (England 1662, USA 1928, Canada 1962) fulfill the Great Commission to “make disciples of all nations”? By the Rev. Gavin Dunbar It is a mark of our time that many Anglican and Episcopalian Christians would answer these questions in the negative. The Prayer Book may be good for some things - but not evangelism. So runs the current wisdom. So prevalent is this view, … [Read more...]
A New Prayer Book Emerges:
It is not just TEC that has been looking at Prayer Book revision: ACNA is about to launch a completely new Prayer Book of its own. A.M-R Recent months have seen much attention focused on the plan for a “comprehensive revision” of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer in the Episcopal Church, although in the end, the General Convention of this summer – to the relief of many who feared just how radical the results might have been-- decided not to pursue this option but instead to develop a range … [Read more...]
After GAFCON III – Whither Lambeth 2020 & Whither the Communion?
A further personal reflectionon some of the implications flowing from GAFCON III in JerusalemA M-RThe GAFCON conference was a thoroughly upbeat and joyful event of unprecedented scale that demonstrated most powerfully the rising organizational capacity of the movement ---and the consequent importance for Anglicanism of whether or not it is enabled to see its future, in the long-term, within the Communion. There was a deeply positive atmosphere with huge goodwill among those … [Read more...]
From Clubs to Communion: in a Different League ?
It is said that the Metropolitan Club in New York founded in 1891 –with J.P. Morgan as its first President –was launched in consequence of outrage that a certain other Club had failed to elect particular gentlemen to membership. In the world of gentlemen’s social clubs it is clear thus that, in the case of difficulty, one answer is simply to set up a new one, even if the more recent clubs tend to be looked down upon by the older or more exclusive ones. (A mischievous … [Read more...]
Jerusalem and GAFCON III
St George's Cathedral Jerusalem: A view looking towards the Nave from the Quire A Special Evensong was held today in the Cathedral for those coming to Jerusalem to attend GAFCON with Archbishop Suheil Dawani the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem and Bishop Michael Lewis of Cyprus and the Gulf as well as the GAFCON Bishops This coming week sees the convening of the Third Global Anglican Futures Conference which for the second time is being held in Jerusalem ten years after the first … [Read more...]
Elephants and Anglicans to the Sound of Church Bells – The Toon Memorial Lecture 2018
So, oft in theologic wars The disputants, I ween, Rail on in utter ignorance Of what each other mean, And prate about an Elephant Not one of them has seen!.... So concluded this year's Toon Memorial Lecture in Pusey House Oxford given on the 17th of May 2018 under the title Elephants and Anglicans to the sound of Church Bells: Just how central is the place of the Prayer Book for Anglicans and the future of the Communion? By The Revd. Canon Alistair … [Read more...]
Snarks, Boojums and the Quest for the Anglican Way
Canon Macdonald-Radcliff will be exploring the challenges and importance of identifying what Anglicanism comprises and the role of the Prayer Book within this, both as a matter of history and as a source of what defines the tradition.Sunday 22nd April 6.30 p.m - 8 p.m.The address will be at the Church of the Advent in Boston (30 Brimmer St, Boston, MA 02108) and will be followed by discussion.It will be preceded by a light supper after Choral Evensong,which takes place at 5 p.m. and … [Read more...]
After the God Science & Humanity Conference
(Above - left to right- Canon Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff, Dr. William Phillips, Fr. Mark Michaels, Dr. Paul Julienne, Mr. Daniel Dorman) This conference in Potomac was a great success and we wish to thank Fr Mark Michael, the Vestry and members of the Congregation of St Francis for so kindly hosting us, and even adding a full choral Evensong at the end of the Conference!Gratitude is also extended to the many who attended and to our speakers in particular, to Dr. William … [Read more...]
God Science and Humanity Colloquium on 10th February in Potomac
This one day conference will run from 10 a.m. till about 4 p.m. when Evening Prayer will follow and it will include a boxed luncheon of good quality.It will be held at the Church of St Francis Potomac near Washington DC, and will bring together several notable experts includingDr. William Phillips Nobel Laureate in Physics and recipient of the Albert A. Michelson Medal from The Franklin Institute, based at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) & … [Read more...]
The 2018 Conference is over but the date for 2019 is coming soon!
The Prayer Book: Doctrine, Liturgy and Life. Registration for the coming conference in Savannah from 24-26th January 2018 has now closed but the dates of next year's conference will be announced soon: FURTHER INFORMATION The proceedings built on the success of the 2017 Conference, Anglicanism Catholic and Reformed.This year the themes looked at in our main sessions related to the Prayer Book andThe Doctrine of the Church Authority, Truth and … [Read more...]
Revising the Liturgy of the Episcopal Church: Can a thousand flowers bloom ? – A PBS Colloquium in Dallas on 20th October
A One Day Colloquium of the Prayer Book Society USA at the Church of the Incarnation Dallas 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Friday 20th October, 2017 Tickets available via the following links: http://liturgyrevisionpbs.bpt.me http://liturgyrevisionpbs.brownpapertickets.com Exploring the proposals for a “Comprehensive Revision”of the liturgy of the Episcopal Churchto be considered by the General Convention in 2018 This Colloquium will explore the implications of the mandate from … [Read more...]
William Law: On the Spirit of Love, continued
[Love-2.1-11] Why are Love, Knowledge, Wisdom, and Goodness said to be infinite and eternal in God, capable of no Increase or Decrease, but always in the same highest State of Existence? Why is his Power eternal and omnipotent, his Presence not here, or there, but everywhere the same? No Reason can be assigned, but because nothing that is temporary, limited, or bounded, can be in God. It is his Nature to be that which He is, and all that He is, in an infinite, unchangeable Degree, admitting … [Read more...]
New Print Edition of the Anglican Way now out
We are pleased to announce that the latest edition of the Society's Journal is now available in print and online -Canon Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff THE ANGLICAN WAY Vol 40, No. 2 Summer 2017 For the full text please go to https://anglicanway.org/print-edition/ AW-vol40no2_WebContents: “Prevent Us O Lord”, Dwelling, Walking And Serving In The Book Of Common Prayer, by Rowan Williams, Master oF Magdalene College, Cambridge, Former Archbishop of Canterbury (Article … [Read more...]
The Society Mourns the Passing of Bishop Geoffrey Rowell
BISHOP GEOFFREY ROWELL Requiem aeternam dona eis.... It is with the deepest sadness that the Society has learned of the passing of Bishop Geoffrey who was, only months ago, to have given a paper at the Society's recent conference Anglicanism Catholic and Reformed. This would have been on the theme of the distinctive Anglican understandings of holiness and it was only with great reluctance that he withdraw, on account of the then early, but already acute, stages of the illness … [Read more...]
Ascension I
Ascension-tide is the briefest liturgical season in the Church Year. It lasts only ten days. We believe that on the fortieth day after Easter Christ ascended to the Father. Ten days later the Holy Spirit was sent into the womb of the nascent Church on the feast of the Pentecost or Whitsunday. So, we have but a few days to examine the significance and meaning of the Ascension for us.The Ascension is Jesus Christ’s return to the eternal state that He shares, as Son, with the Father and the … [Read more...]
Ascension
It seems rather odd that no sooner have the Apostles been warned against gazing into the starry heaven in pursuit of Jesus’ Ascended nature than their Elizabethan successors have taken to exhorting us to do precisely that. The Angels of the Lord –two men standing by the Apostles in white apparel rebuke the Apostles. Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. (Acts … [Read more...]
The Society’s 2017 Conference (16-18 February)
The Prayer Book's 2017 conference was held on the theme: Anglicanism: Catholic and Reformed - Revisiting the Reformation Legacy 1517-2017.It took place at St John's Church, Savannah, Georgia, from midday on Thursday 16th to midday Saturday 18th, February 2017.In the anniversary year of Luther's ninety-five theses which started the Reformation, this conference explored how Anglicanism emerged with an identity that is both truly reformed and enduringly catholic.And we are pleased to … [Read more...]
“To foreign lands no sound of her is come” – Reflecting on the expansion of the Anglican Communion then and now….
At a time when the future of the Anglican Communion as a true Communion, rather than mere Community is under some travail, it is interesting to see how different the perspective was in the middle of the last century when the Revd. Walter Stowe (1895-1989) enthused most optimistically in his article ahead of the 2nd Anglican Congress held in Minneapolis in 1954, entitled, “The Expansion of the Anglican Communion” in the Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church, (Vol. … [Read more...]