Greeting on behalf of the Episcopal Church Foundation

Several years ago, when the Fellows Forum was just an idea, those of us thinking about it would test ourselves by asking whether or not the Episcopal Church would acknowledge that it had an intellectual life. Part of the answer was a more practical question seeking to understand what kind of intellectual life is actually embraced by the Church.

What generated Foundation interest in developing the Forum was the realization that the 150 Fellows, whether teachers, writers, pastors or administrators, comprised an important intellectual cadre for the Church. The Fellows were interested in ways they might return something to the Church for the gift they received, which helped them to attain their advanced degrees. The Fellows' collective contribution is one that reflects the importance of religious scholarship and the life of the mind in an active faith life. More specifically, Forum leadership wishes to pose practical and challenging Church life issues for broad discourse.

One of the Fellows, the Rev. Dr. Leander Harding, put it well when he said that a principal Foundation function is its "ministry of encouragement." In this case, the Foundation's purpose is to provide a "neutral zone" for the free exchange of ideas on tough issues facing the Church and to create communities of discourse around them. In a time when problem-solving seems to exhaust our energies and dim our vision, we hope the Fellows Forum will bring a strong dose of inspiration and aspiration for lively minds and ministries.

The Foundation's leadership, board and staff wish to express their gratefulness to the Forum's planning group for energizing the activity. Special thanks go to the Rev. Drs. Frederic Burnham and Ian Douglas for nurturing the idea, and to Dr. Harold Whiteman, a former chair of the Foundation's Fellowship Committee, for his insight, inspiration and initiative in conceiving the idea and organizing its early support.

WILLIAM G. ANDERSEN, JR.*

* William G. Anderson, Jr. is Executive Director of the Episcopal Church Foun-- dation.

Copyright Anglican Theological Review, Inc. Fall 2000
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