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A Note on the Role of North America in the Evolution of Anglicanism

Anglican Theological Review, Fall 2005 by Marshall, Paul V

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All of this effort and influence bore fruit in 1853. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which had not recognized the episcopal character of Samuel Seabury, together with the Archbishop of Canterbury invited the American church to send bishops to celebrate the society's third Jubilee. For the first time, representatives of all churches in communion with Canterbury were assembled, and around the theme of common mission. A parallel delegation was sent from the Jubilee to the General Convention, including the bishop of Madras. Although no English bishop attended, the Canadian bishop of Fredericton was present. The two visiting bishops participated in consecrating two American bishops. (Previously that year, an American bishop had for the first time participated in the ordination of an English bishop.) This General Convention also renewed the ancient attempt to establish a compact with England regarding the transfer of clergy, eschewed interference in the internal affairs of any sister church, and created procedures to insure continued communion. It was the request of the Canadian church (echoing the request of the 1853 Episcopal General Convention) that resulted in the first Lambeth Conference (1867).

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On November 16, 2001, the Archbishop of Canterbury said of his eighteenth-century predecessor, "If I feel sad when I consider Moore's lack of vision and courage, I find joy in Seabury's dedicated determination."21 I have suggested here that it has been the curious vocation of the churches in Canada and the United States to forge paths for the evolution of the Anglican heritage. That fact does not establish the lightness of the actions of the churches in Canada and the United States, nor does it imply an unlimited license to act without consideration for others. It does suggest that ample precedent lies in our history for churches in what is now the Anglican Communion to chart new courses of thought and to develop new ways of relating to one another and to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Anglican ecclesiology continues to evolve and to disclose God's will to those whose faith allows them to expect God to continue such disclosure.

1 Paul V. Marshall, "Institution over Inspiration," www.diobeth.org.

2 Andrew Linzey, Has Anglicanism a Future? A Response to the Windsor Report (London: LGCM, 2005).

3 Linzey, Has Anglicanism a Future?, 4.

4 Norman Doe, Canon Law in the Anglican Communion (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), 339.

5 See my One, Catliolic, and Apostolic: Samuel Seabry and the Early Episcopal Church (New York: Church Publishing, 2004).

6 Among the vast literature, see especially Jon Butler and Harry Stout, eds., Religion in American History (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997). In the present debate, it is reported that in fourteen dioceses in the Church of England, same-sex blessings are readily available, and that in the Diocese of London, notices of such blessings have appeared in The Times. Is it possible that because the Diocese of New Westminster has displayed a particularly North American candor about its life that it has become the focus of a dispute while England has not?

A Note on the Role of North America in the Evolution of Anglicanism

Anglican Theological Review, Fall 2005 by Marshall, Paul V

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