Transcript William Reed Huntington (1838–1909)

The Church-Idea
by The Rev. William Reed Huntington (1838–1909)
Part 2
May 23, 2010
The “Marrow” of the Church-Idea
(p. 30)
• The Church’s mission is to restore spiritual life
(i.e., the fullness of human nature)
– “Because there has always been spiritual life in the world,
therefore there has always been society. Because it is
possible for the spirit of man to live either with God or
apart from Him, therefore there has always been an inner or
elect society, — the Church.”
The Practical Problem (pp. 10, 11)
• Because Christ’s Church is divided, it is unable to
manifest a unified spirit
• The Church-Idea is a formula for unity as catholicity
or “generic catholicism”
• ≈ Anglicanism
Four Notes of Catholicity
1. Visibility
– organized/institutional expression of faith
2. The indwelling Spirit of the Lord
– blend of Traditional-Evangelical-Charismatic
3. Unity
– a worldwide Communion
4. Capability of perpetual renewal
– Apostolic Succession
Naïve Optimism of The Church-Idea in 1870
• America would remain a predominantly WASP
culture and society for the indefinite future
– Immigrations from late 19th c. through present especially
of Roman Catholic populations
• American society without organized religion would
have an insufficient basis for “spiritual” values
– E.g., The Consumer Society (J. Baudrillard, 1970)
Review: Three Classic Errors
1. Romanism — the Idea exaggerated
2. Puritanism — the Idea diminished
3. Liberalism — the Idea distorted
Romanism
• Positively — true inclusiveness
– (i.e., includes both wheat and tares)
• Negatively — admits of post-biblical revelation
– e.g., papacy, mariolatry, transubstantiation
• Today — no real change
– (Why should they?)
Romanism
• Roman Catholic = Catholic (Universal) =
the Church Visible = the Church of the Creed
– “In their view, the Papal Church is the Catholic Church;
and if the Catholic Church, then the Church of the
Apostles; and if the Church of the Apostles, then the
Church of Christ; and if the Church of Christ, then the
City of God, the Kingdom of Heaven upon earth, the
Mother of us all.”
Puritanism (≈ Protestantism)
• Positively — seeks to bring each individual member
up to the standard of the Kingdom
• Negatively — exclusive of the tares in a way that is
contrary to Scripture
• Today — gravitates toward a single doctrinal or
behavioral emphasis as a basis to distinguish wheat
from tares (e.g., alcohol, tongues, 2nd etc.)
– natural drift toward sectarianism
– a reformation or dissolution of the Church?
Religious Liberalism
• A caricature of the inclusive Church in that it
includes all, but without standard or distinction.
• “inclusiveness” without boundaries (i.e., a
contradiction)
– In-clude means en-close: What are we in-cluded into?
– What’s the difference between being in and out?
Religious Liberalism cont.
• “Liberalism is not a system. Its very characteristic is
its want of a system. Liberalism is a spirit, a tendency,
a movement, a slippery something in striving to grasp
which we seem to clutch the air.” (pp. 96-97)
• “Liberalism in religion is the spirit that is impatient of
anything like authority, whether in the line of doctrine
or discipline.” (p. 98)
Religious Liberalism and the Church-Idea
“The Holy Catholic Church is not a voluntary religious
association formed by men for the purpose of freely handling
the problems of human destiny. It is a family, a brotherhood, a
household, to whose guardian care the archives of the faith
have been intrusted. The members of this family have no
authority to tamper with, to change or modify the sacred
deposit given into their care. God’s oracles are a trust. The
generations before us held it for our sake; we are to hold it for
the sake of the generations yet to come.” (p. 113, emphasis added)
1870-1888: Church-Idea to TC-LQ
• The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral fixed the identity
of The Anglican Communion, the third largest
communion of churches in the world.
• TC-LQ contains the basis for each member church to
go forward as “church” rather than “sect”
– and to identify with the historic Church rather than the
sectarian drift of local factions and movements
• TC-LQ contains the operative definition of Christian
Tradition.
The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral (1888)
“…We do hereby affirm that the Christian unity… can be
restored only by the return of all Christian communions to the
principles of unity exemplified by the undivided Catholic
Church during the first ages of its existence; which principles
we believe to be the substantial deposit of Christian Faith
and Order committed by Christ and his Apostles to the
Church unto the end of the world, and therefore incapable of
compromise or surrender by those who have been ordained to
be its stewards and trustees for the common and equal benefit
of all… (emphasis added)
The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral (1888)
“As inherent parts of this sacred deposit,
and therefore as essential to the restoration
of unity among the divided branches of
Christendom, we account the following,
to wit…
The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral (1888)
1. The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as the
revealed Word of God.
2. The Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of the
Christian Faith.
3. The two Sacraments, — Baptism and the Supper of the
Lord, — ministered with unfailing use of Christ’s words of
institution and of the elements ordained by Him.
4. The Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of
its administration to the varying needs of the nations and
peoples called of God into the unity of His Church.
See BCP pp. 876-877
Any questions?