Martyn Percy,Anglicanism: Confidence,Commitment and Communion;Martyn Percy and Robert Boak Slocum (eds),A Point of Balance: The Weight and Measure of Anglicanism

Martyn Percy and Robert Boak Slocum (eds), A Point of Balance: The Weight and Measure of Anglicanism, Canterbury Press: Norwich, 2013; 160 pp.: 9781848255128, £16.99 (pbk)

These are two very different volumes in spite of common themes and at least one common editor/author. Martyn Percy’s monograph collects together a number of essays published wholly, or in part, elsewhere. Indeed the first chapter includes material that first saw the light of day in the other book being reviewed here. The essays in the first volume often gain their edge from Percy’s experience and teaching over the past nine years as a theological college principal. They are collected under three main headings: Confidence in Formation; Commitment and Mission; Communion and Polity.

In the first section there is reflection on the changing nature of theological education with regard to the age and profile of ordinands and also the new challenges faced by a ‘national’ church. Interestingly enough, the nature of Anglicanism is a key theme here in a way that would probably not have been the case a generation ago. This in itself may indicate a growing uncertainty of identity within the Church of England in a multi-cultural and multi-faith context.

The second section develops these themes. So, attitudes to mission need also to be aware of new patterns of churchgoing, but they need to realize how the 1960s general theory of secularization is now being re-evaluated. Bridging between communities and generations is a further theme; here he quotes Robert Putnam’s work in North America. Percy remains committed to the key elements espoused by the Church of England as a national church in relation to establishment and nationhood. He is intriguingly critical of the ‘Fresh Expressions’ movement. In a chapter amusingly headed ‘Old Tricks for New Dogs’ he argues that a ‘fresh expressions’ approach can easily be a displacement activity colluding with modern individualism.

His final section moves to wider issues within the Communion and so links to some degree to the second book here reviewed. So, this first book offers a series of panoramic sweeps across culture and history, and the impact of these on the Church of England’s ministry and mission. The second book of essays, edited by Percy with Robert Boak Slocum, is of a very different genre. Percy’s own essay is almost entirely resonant both in style and content with the monograph reviewed above. In contrast, the other essays are more specific and engage with Anglicanism worldwide from a variety of angles.

Robert Slocum’s brief introduction focuses on balance within Anglicanism as it has been inherited through its Benedictine roots. In his second essay, Slocum begins with the 1977 Port St Lucie Statement of the Episcopal Church in the USA. He focuses on its allowance of latitude and the need to keep a place for the ‘dissenter’ (p. 9). He reminds the reader of the aphorism that schism is worse than heresy. ‘Reception’, he notes, ‘takes time’ (p. 11). It is a sharp study of one of the key so-called neuralgic points within Anglicanism at the present time.

Katherine Grieb offers a very important analysis of the concept of scriptural reasoning as a tool within wider Anglican polity. Starting with the Church of Uganda she indicates how the nineteenth-century Ugandan martyrs were victims of King Mwanga of Bugarda’s homosexual advances. Here lies a key issue within that part of African culture. Out of this arises a particular approach to the Bible, and Grieb points to the dangers of allegorical interpretation. She sees the scriptural reasoning project now as a post-liberal project: Dan Hardy and David Ford were pioneers. Part of the usefulness of the project is that of ‘improving the quality of our disagreements’ (p. 39).

From a Roman Catholic viewpoint, Tom Hughson argues for the importance of ecumenical engagement which is rooted in mission. He cites the seminal work of David Bosch and of Stephen Bevans and Roger Schroeder. Mission within an ecumenical context is, for Hughson, the key starting point for prophetic witness. Philip Sheldrake’s chapter is broad-based and visionary; it is rooted in a spirituality of reconciliation, and more specifically he focuses this both in the Rule of St Benedict and the Book of Common Prayer. Mark Chapman’s essay is a fascinating reflection on Essays and Reviews, one hundred and fifty years on. He shows how the impact of this diverse collection of essays was critical at the time. Henry Parry Liddon was concerned about the limits of diversity. Others, including Samuel Wilberforce and the erstwhile more liberal Renn Dickson Hampden, pressed home the point. Ultimately, however, there was no conclusive condemnation and Chapman argues that this has been a recurring pattern within Anglicanism. It has been a case of listening, learning and accepting in an uneasy coalition.

The final four essays contribute again from very different starting points. Robert Hughes engages with koinonia. Simon Taylor offers empirical reflections based on the coming together of parishes in Bristol, albeit using the very English model of the parochial system. Paula Nesbitt examines changing patterns in ordained leadership which can easily lead on to an increased sense of clerical elitism. Gerard Mannion offers a marvellously waspish and uncomprehending critique of the Ordinariate set up by Pope Benedict XVI, from a Roman Catholic viewpoint.

The collection is a lively and sharp contribution to the debate about Anglicanism arising from the Society for the Study of Anglicanism. It is refreshing and stimulating and a sharp reminder that schism is worse than heresy!