BRAVELY stepping into the fractious arena of a discredited Church of England and a divided Anglican Communion, Charlie Bell’s presenting issue is the cheap rhetoric of the appeal to “unity”, especially when it is used to justify dodging principles. In a backhanded compliment to the episcopate, he acknowledges that it was the “blithe and often entirely unthinking use of the word ‘unity’” by some bishops which provoked him into writing this book. Unity is a magnetic, alluring concept, reflecting the nature of God, but that is why it lends itself to abuse by those unwilling to grapple with the problems that the veil of “unity” is intended to conceal.
Bell rightly castigates the present high-level public profile of the Church of England for lack of intellectual rigour, naked pragmatism in policy, and wilful ignorance of the Anglican traditions of liturgy, theology, and pastoral ministry. He catalogues the self-imposed unmaking of the Church of England in our time. Centralising “diocesan strategies”, often supported by misdirected central funding, but with parishes paying the price in the loss of clergy on the ground, are exposed for the lack of theology in conception and of transparency in execution.
Bell also shrewdly asks whether the centralisers realise that the advantages and privileges of establishment, considered as mission opportunities, rest critically on the credibility of a Church that offers its ministry in person to all who will receive it throughout the land. Commitment to “the church of place”, so often despised by ecclesiastical modernisers, is a theological virtue, Bell insists. He emerges as a champion of Anglican ecclesiology and virtuous practice.
Bell soundly deplores the breaking of eucharistic communion as a response of first resort, by individuals and churches, when disagreements of principle arise (as they always have and will). He could have driven the point home by showing that there is no justification — short of denial of the incarnation — in scripture or in the teaching of any great theologian in Christian history for breaking communion, even if we believe that our Church has taken a seriously wrong step.
Furthermore, he proposes that questions of sexuality should not be considered to be properly doctrinal, because the subject is not mentioned in the creeds or in the historic Anglican formularies. Instead, such questions subsist at the level of morals and pastoral economy, which have constantly evolved throughout Christian history, as has the interpretation of the Bible alongside such developments at every stage.
The book was, of course, written and published before the resignation of Archbishop Justin Welby. Bell is not inhibited by misplaced deference from alleging inconsistency about statements and stances on the part of the Archbishop. He also has little faith in some of the bishops, whom he accuses of turning a blind eye to widespread illegalities (especially the liturgical free-for-all) in their dioceses, timidity in public speech and action, and feebleness in their frequent vacuous invocations of “unity” without definition and without content.
Under the self-proclaimed “leadership” of Archbishop Welby, a retreat from the theological to the managerial and from the parochial to the central took place. Episcopal collegiality has been distorted to mean promoting a fictitious unanimity in public pronouncements, so that the sacred office of bishop in the Church of God has been devalued.
It would be salutary to analyse why the House of Bishops, the Houses of Clergy and Laity in the General Synod, and the Archbishops’ Council supported these reckless centralising moves, retrenching from parish ministry. Either they really believed in them, which would be alarming in itself, or they did not, and yet gave their consent, which would be even more disturbing. Now we must wonder what sort of miracle it will take for the damage to the parochial foundations of the Church of England to be repaired — and, equally serious, how to reverse the dragging down of the spiritual standing and moral reputation of the Church of England to a new low point.
Bell rightly points out that Archbishop Welby raised the stakes with regard to the tensions within the Anglican Communion by posing unprecedentedly as its “leader” and “spiritual head”, thus aspiring to playing a part like that played by Pope Francis in the global Roman Catholic Church.
While “The Archbishop of Canterbury” is one of Anglicanism’s four “Instruments of Communion”, this Instrument is not about the personality or powers of the Archbishop, but refers to the key but limited constitutional functions of the office. Such a stable and default office and role, provided it does not claim too much for itself, is to be valued. This is a fine line to tread, perhaps, but Archbishop Welby erased it.
The Primates’ Meeting (another Instrument), chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury and created specifically and solely for conference and mutual support, has taken upon itself in recent years to issue directives to the Communion with a flagrant disregard for constitutional proprieties.
While Bell salutes those thinking church people who still cherish the belief “that ecclesiology matters”, he claims that little theological work has been done on what is meant concretely by “unity” in an ecclesial context. Nevertheless, his bibliography — which is understandably dominated by official church reports — suggests that he is unaware of the rich resources to be found in ecumenical theology and international dialogues, which for half a century have homed in on the theology of unity and communion, giving it shape and substance.
Bell’s heart and head are almost always in the right place. He deserves our thanks for bravely exposing the recent aggravated distortions of received Anglican polity and the daunting challenges that they have left us with.
The Revd Dr Paul Avis is Honorary Professor in the School of Divinity of the University of Edinburgh, and Editor-in-Chief of Ecclesiology.
Unity: Anglicanism’s impossible dream?
Charlie Bell
SCM Press £19.99
(978-0-334-06560-9)
Church Times Bookshop £15.99