Sydney Anglicanism

It has been said that if the Reformation’s chief protagonists had been Cardinal Contarini and Philipp Melanchthon rather than Leo X and Martin Luther, the outcome would have been entirely different. Apart from stating the obvious, it is an interesting reflection on the way in which different personality types handle conflict.

Michael Jensen was a doctoral student at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, during my time there, and he helped me to see what I have always known instinctively, that deep theological disagreement takes on an entirely different character when those engaging in the debate have heart.

Michael has heart, and that is what makes the book a hopeful and helpful one. A Lecturer in Doctrine and Church History at Moore College, he comes from one of the great families of Sydney Anglicanism. He tells the story of Sydney Anglicanism from a privileged insider’s perspective, but with sensitivity towards those who disagree and with clear warnings for that conservative diocese, lest it become beleaguered, inward-looking or self-righteous.

The book is in both senses an apology. It regrets mistakes that Sydney Anglicans have made, but it is a convinced (and more me convincing) apologia for the inherently Anglican character of that diocese.

Written in a ten-week period, the book has the spark and energy of a journalistic enterprise, and a few of its weaknesses. For me, not knowing the detailed context, the historical background of the debates within the Australian church was very helpful. Of course, it covers the areas of primary media attention: lay presidency, the ministry of women, the accusation of fundamentalism, but the twin theses of the book are the doctrines of scripture and ecclesiology.

Inevitably, Michael has to deal with the most virulent attack on that diocese in recent years, in the shape of Muriel Porter’s 2011 Sydney Anglicans and the Threat to World Anglicanism: The Sydney Experiment. Her book is a cheap and easy swipe, against which Michael responds with dignity and clarity. I hadn’t realized quite how polarized Anglican Australia was between a liberal Catholic centre and a smaller evangelical constituency, and that was a special sadness. It reminded me of the 1920s vitriol of Anglo-Catholic/Evangelical demagogic debate and response in the UK, a scene that has long since passed.

This book does not stray into the global discussion about what Anglicanism is, where the centre lies, the role of GAFCON, and so forth, and is the stronger for its focused agenda. Michael answers the question about whether Sydney Anglicans really are Anglicans (yes) and he is right. The bigger questions remain: for Sydney Anglicans, does the Communion really matter (probably yes, but not at all costs), and is there hope for a more gracious and integrated Australian Anglican church in the future (not at the moment, I fear).

His last word is his best word: for the mission of the church, “Sydney Anglicans need to return, with due humility, to the sources of their faith. The only recipe for security is a prayerful commitment to meet Jesus Christ as he is revealed in Scripture.” [176]

Adrian Chatfield

Ridley Hall Cambridge

Sydney Anglicanism: An Apology
Michael P Jensen
Wipf & Stock, 2012, 185pp
£14.00
ISBN 9781610974653

Sabbatical 2012: To read more slowly, think more slowly, pray more slowly

We spent July in France. The task was to read no theology and to switch off the 'duty' mode of my study; the outcome was much richer and spontaneous theological reflection, though that's a pretentious phrase for what Christians do almost as naturally as breathing. During the month, we walked 120 miles in the Auvergne and the Alpes Vanoise, fell in love with Saint-Félicien cheese and photographed wildflowers that were so beautiful they often made our hearts ache.

In August we walked a 50 year old up Snowdon, just having returned from the Alps. Such a doddle :). Then I started to write an overview Certificate level distance-learning course on ‘Church History from the High Middle Ages to the present’ for our old College in Johannesburg. In the middle of the month, we spent a week on the Nile celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary, and would like to recommend Harry’s No Hassle ASDA Price shop in Luxor! One of the many surprising features of this holiday was seeing the many Coptic remains carved out of the old Middle Kingdom temples, including the picture here.

September saw me back in the saddle: I took part in Ridley Hall's staff residential and led the Fresh Expressions national team retreat and chaplained the national pioneer conference ‘Breakout’. During the month, I began my writing projects in earnest:

• An article on Conversations with Wilfred Owen: The Pity’s in the Poetry [now published in Anvil Volume 28.3] 
• A lecture to the research students and staff at Oxford Centre for Mission Studies on ‘Who am I?’ Some Missiological Implications of Theological Anthropology. This will be published in their journal sometime this year.
• A seminar on The Theology of Edward Elgar’s ‘The Kingdom’ for the Diocese of Norwich's lay training programme. 

In the first six weeks of ‘term’, I wrote and wrote, ran and ran [262 miles August – mid-November], got involved in the Durham-Lesotho link, led a men’s retreat in Brussels [and want to do more on men’s spirituality], spoke on ‘Believing in a God who heals’ for the Diocesan Healing Advisory Group, and then came South Africa. I visit every year to examine the degree that we set up as Mission Partners. This time, I did that, but we also spent an amazing five days in Kruger Park and two wonderful weeks camping in a very wet Drakensberg.

What did the sabbatical accomplish? Rest and refreshment; spiritual challenge and the opportunity to run and pray more often; but above all, the chance to study without a timetable, syllabus or agenda. For that, I am very grateful to Andrew Norman and the Ridley Hall community.