Anglican Spring Cleaning
Essays in Anglican Self-Criticism. Edited by David M. Paton. (S.C.M. Press, 25s.)
ANGLICANISM will be to some extent in the news during the next month or two by reason of the assembling of about 300 bishops at Lambeth. These four books are an invitation to the lower orders in the Church to engage in some of the self- examination that the bishops will be carrying out behind closed doors. Bishop Neil's Pelican is the pick of the bunch. No one could have written a better or handier introduction to the past history and present estate of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion. The Bishop's qualifica- tions are exceptional and perhaps unique, since he is an accomplished historian who has a large experience not only of the Anglican Churches at home and abroad but of other Churches as well. His book contains an astonishing amount of information, but is no mere string of facts and dates and names. He contrives to do justice to the various traditions and schools of thought that are somehow held together in communion with the see of Canterbury. He appears to have an equal sympathy with thetn all and to have dis- covered how they need one another. While he is
by no means uncritical (of the Church of England, in particular), he conveys the impression that the Anglican form of Christianity has a genuine coherence and is much more intellectually respect- able and spiritually satisfying than is usually supposed. Certainly, he enables those who are attached to it, and those who make light of it, and those who wish to reform it, to see what it really is.
One would have more confidence in Lord Altrincham's competence to write about the Church of England if he had a quarter of Bishop Neill's knowledge of it. The first of his essays, entitled 'A Layman's Plea,' is a slapdash affair. I say this with regret because I am predisposed in favour of laymen who are articulate and critical and determined to influence ecclesiastical policy. But they need to examine their thoughts and to weigh their words. When Lord Altrincham says that 'there must be no doctrinal tests [italics his], either for members or ministers of the Church of England,' he cannot have thought out the implications of such an axiom. 'A non- doctrinal, truly national Church' is just what Hitler wanted. It would be another matter if he had said that the doctrinal tests of the Church of England are archaic and ought to be revised. Mixed up with reckless generalisations of this kind are some quite good suggestions—about the need for part-time clergy and for 'an anthology of Christian literature suitable to be read in churches' (if Lord Altrincham had been acquainted with Dr. A. C. Bouquet's Lectionary of Christian Prose, he would probably have mentioned it). The second of his two essays, on `F. D. Maurice and Christian Socialism,' was written at Oxford ten years ago and is more mature. I find if difficult to believe, however, that he has really read Maurice's The Kingdom of Christ. He describes it as 'one of the last and greatest systematisations [sic] to be attempted on the basis of the old creeds,' and he would hardly have written about creeds and sacraments as he does in the first essay if he had understood Maurice's explanation of their purpose.
Mr. Kirk is better informed about the nature of the Church, and he is more representative of how the Anglican lay mind works. His book is the confessio fidei of an Anglo-Catholic who, after some uncertainty, has found himself happily at home in the Church of England. He is more interested in church life and organisation than in the foundations of the faith. Apart from the present method of appointing bishops, which he regards 'as nothing short of blasphemous,' the changes he is inclined to favour are mildly con- ceived. The dust-cover describes him as 'one of the foremost spokesmen for a new crusading spirit throughout the Anglican Communion,' but it is to be hoped that there is an element of exag- geration in this statement.
The essays that have been collected by Mr. Paton .have more edge to them and strike deeper. The seventeen clerical and lay contributors, several of whom are overseas, raise many ques- tions about which they consider Anglicans ought to be doing some hard thinking. Do we mean business when we talk about church unity? Do we not make exaggerated claims for the Book of Common Prayer? Some of the most lively essays are concerned with the work of the Church in Africa and the East, which has to come to terms with rapid and far-reaching social change.
Anglicans, like other Christians, are evidentlY being• moved to review their strategy on many fronts. It is unlikely that the Lambeth Conference will be able to launch a Ten Years' Plan; if it succeeds in focusing attention on a few urgent operations, it will do well.
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