In Search of Authority: Anglican theological method from
the Reformation to the Enlightenment
Paul Avis
Bloomsbury £19.99
(978-0-5670-2648-4)
Church Times Bookshop £18 (Use code CT522
)
IN MANY ways, this is a remarkable and rewarding work. It is the
fruit of a massive amount of learning and research in and about not
only the principal Anglican authors of the period, but also much
more widely, too. Its title and subtitle taken together indicate
its contents; this search surely continues.
Nevertheless, it is not without its difficulties. On occasion
the author is long-winded, and his use of heavy abstract nouns
(e.g. uniformitarianism, instantiation) does not make for easy
reading. That said, it deserves to be warmly welcomed by scholars.
Other readers of the Church Times, however, may wish to
take a chapter at a time. It should certainly be in the library of
any university, and of all theological colleges and courses. Its
references and bibliography will be found immensely helpful, and
will enable anyone to follow up an author whose work he may wish to
pursue.
Further, this is no ordinary study of the Church of England in
its formative period, which is a very well-worn track. Rather, it
includes treatment of Continental thinkers from a wide range of
countries. The author does not allow the reader to understand the
development of theological thinking in isolation from developments
in other fields; for the book contains interesting studies of,
among others, Bacon, Hobbes, Descartes, Locke, and Newton.
The author advances several strong convictions: for instance,
that Anglican life and thought is continuous from the time of King
Henry VIII to the present day. It did not have a fresh start under
each new sovereign in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Also, he
regards the Enlightenment in England as neither secular nor
anti-Christian as, for instance, in France; rather,as a
characteristically Christian - and, more particularly, Anglican -
development.
The key to the Anglican grasp of truth he holds to be neither
the via media nor the threefold cord of scripture,
tradition, and reason; rather, an approach marked by moderation,
conscience, and reason (God has given us reason, the proper use of
which can lead to the elucidation of scripture and to a grasp of
probability). Further, the development of Anglicanism from the 18th
century onwards has shown an empirical, sober, cautious, and
inductive approach to truth,an approach characteristic of the
physical sciences that had begun to flourish in the 18th
century.
Moreover, each phase in Anglican history draws on elements from
past understanding, and hands yet others on to the next, the
results being a seamless robe of continuity, in which each phase is
marked by moderation.
We all know that nowadays, as often before, the question for
Anglicans, and not only for Anglicans, is Quo vadis?
The Rt Revd Dr Alec Graham is a former Bishop of
Newcastle