The End of the Reformation in England?

Archbishop Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, hails it:

The outpouring of public grief over the death of Diana Princess of Wales marked the moment England returned to its Roman Catholic roots almost 500 years after the reformation, according to the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

Acts such as showering the Princess’s hearse with flowers show that the public is reverting to a “Catholic” approach to death after centuries of protestant reserve, the Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols suggested.

He said that the Princess’s funeral in 1997 marked a watershed in British history and would be remembered as the “end of the Reformation in England”.

Catholic practices such as prayers for the souls of the dead and a belief in saints, which were dismissed by protestant reformers in the 16th Century, are now being rediscovered, he said.

The recent growth in unofficial roadside shrines commemorating people killed in accidents – often filled with flowers photographs and mementos – has also been widely interpreted as marking a change in the way the British respond to death.

Interviewed in a BBC documentary about shrines and other places of religious significance in Britain, the Archbishop said that English people were rediscovering their ancient Catholic “voice”.

“I remember vividly the cortege carrying the body of Princess Diana coming up the Edgware Road,” he said.

“The Edgware Road was crowded with people, and they were throwing flowers forward to catch them on the hearse as it went by.

“And somebody said to me ‘each of those flowers is a prayer for Diana’.

“The same man went on to say ‘I think this moment marks the end of the Reformation in England’.

“The English people are discovering again their voice: at the point of death we do pray for those who have died.

“And they are discovering again their vision of the future which is so vividly expressed in the lives of the saints.”

He added: “The Catholic understanding of saints is that they are alive in heaven and they are attentive to our efforts here, and help us with their prayers.

“So there’s – if you like – not just a memory of a relationship but a living relationship with saints.

“I think sometimes it is a misunderstanding that we worship saints.

“We don’t, we offer them our love and we ask for their prayers and we draw great strength from their example and their continuing presence as part of the living church.”

The Archbishop appears in “Pagans and Pilgrims: Britain’s Holiest Places” on BBC Four on Thursday.

 

Could Church Planting Networks be Reform’s Ordinariate?

Cranmer’s Curate:

The Anglo-Catholics have a home to go to in the Ordinariate once  women bishops are appointed in the Church of England. But what about  conservative evangelicals in Reform?

Once a single  clause women bishops’ measure is enacted, as seems almost certain after  the next General Synod elections, will we as a constituency knuckle  under and accept the unbiblical innovation or will we be moved to take  radical action?

The reality is that for us women  bishops are not an isolated departure from biblical truth in the Church  of England. The allowance of clergy and now bishops in civil  partnerships is a concern on top of the heretical teachings the  institutional Church has been tolerating and indeed promoting for  decades.

If the Church of England becomes like TEC,  large evangelical flagships could leave the institutional structures and carry on proclaiming the Lord Jesus Christ in their local communities  as confessing Anglican churches. Yes, it would involve leaving their  buildings, which is a messy and tiresome business. But there are recent  precedents for this. St George’s Tron in Glasgow – now The Tron Church  out of the Church of Scotland – did it before Christmas. Orthodox  Anglican congregations in the United States and Canada have been doing  it for several years now. A whole diocese is doing it in South Carolina. It’s do-able for the large and well-resourced churches.

But what about smaller conservative evangelical churches? In the Church of  England, conservative evangelical succession for smaller churches is  difficult to secure even without women bishops. With the worsening  financial situation in many dioceses, churches are increasingly being  amalgamated across the traditions making it very difficult to guarantee  that Christ’s sheep in a small church will not be thrown to a liberal  wolf or wolfess.

Could conservative evangelical church  planting networks provide sound biblical ministry for such smaller  congregations?  This type of network, originally deriving from an  established evangelical flagship but developing outside the  institutional structures of the Church of England, is a growing  phenomenon in cities. Could they act as minster churches for small  ex-parish churches leaving the Church of England?

Leaving their buildings for a congregation of 40 or so adults would actually be quite liberating, They would be spared the expense of maintaining them. Meeting in a school or a community centre would be a lot easier and  cheaper.

Under this scenario, a nearby church plant  would provide a Bible teacher from their staff team who would travel  into that community on a Sunday or on some other day of the week when  the church family chose to meet. He would not be resident in the local  community, which is arguably not ideal. But that is better than a wolf  with a lair in residence. The sound man could teach the Scriptures and  train leaders in the small church but the day to day ministry and  outreach would be the responsibility of the resident congregation.

For it to work, church planters would need to resist the temptation to  poach committed Christian people from those congregations who would  benefit their church plants. A servant-hearted vision for  community-based ministry would be the spiritual key to the success of  such ventures.

Can our church planters rise above the  temptation to empire-build? If they can, then our constituency has a  fighting chance of perpetuating Reformed Anglican ministry outside the  institutional structures.

We could have a home to go to.

 

The Story of the Reformation Needs Reforming

The destruction of most of the libraries, music and art of England was not a religious breakthrough but a cultural calamity.

Prof Eamon Duffy in The Telegraph not so long ago:

 

For five centuries England has been in denial about the role of Roman Catholicism in shaping it. The coin in your pocket declares the monarch to be Defender of the Faith. Since 1558 that has meant the Protestant faith, but Henry VIII actually got the title from the Pope for defending Catholicism against Luther. Henry eventually broke with Rome because the Pope refused him a divorce, and along with the papacy went saints, pilgrimage, the monastic life, eventually even the Mass itself – the pillars of medieval Christianity.

To explain that revolution, the Protestant reformers told a story. Henry had rejected not the Catholic Church, but a corrupt pseudo-Christianity which had led the world astray. John Foxe embodied this story unforgettably in his Book of Martyrs, subsidised by the Elizabethan government as propaganda against Catholicism at home and abroad. For Foxe, Queen Elizabeth was her country’s saviour, and the Reformation itself the climax of an age-old struggle between God, represented by the monarch, and the devil, represented by the Pope.

Fear of Catholic Spain, the greatest power in Europe, gave Foxe’s story urgency. That fear escalated under the Stuart kings, for all of them married Catholics, and were suspected of favouring their wives’ religion. The prospect of a persecuting Catholicism imposed by an apostate monarchy fuelled Protestant anxiety. It led to Civil War, and the execution of King Charles I. Ironically, Charles was a loyal Anglican, but both his sons, Charles II and James II, did eventually embrace Catholicism.

In 1679 fear of Catholicism triggered a last orgy of persecution. The so called Popish Plot, to murder the king and seize the throne, was a paranoid fantasy concocted by Titus Oates, but it unleashed a wave of gruesome executions, including the judicial murder of the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Oliver Plunkett.

At the height of the hysteria, Protestant mythology achieved definitive form in a book that would shape the writing of Tudor history down to our own day. In 1679 Gilbert Burnet, a Scottish cleric, published the first volume of a massive History of the Reformation, an anti-Catholic narrative given scholarly credibility by the inclusion of dozens of documents gathered from public and private archives. Burnet would be the chief propagandist for the “Glorious Revolution” which deposed James II and set the Protestant William of Orange on the throne. His history rammed home the message that Catholicism and Englishness were utterly incompatible: Catholicism was tyranny, Protestantism liberation. “They hate us,” he wrote, “because we dare to be freemen and Protestants.”

It was a message the nation wanted to hear: Burnet was thanked by a special vote of Parliament. His work was supplemented by John Strype, another ardent “Orange” cleric, in a stream of biographies and collections of Reformation documents, many of them gathered from Foxe’s archives. Till well into the 20th century, historians of the English Reformation would rely on Burnet and Strype for their source materials, in the process perpetuating their late-Stuart take on the Tudor age.

The creation of the Public Record Office in 1838 made accessible thousands of documents from Tudor England, but didn’t radically alter this traditional spin on the Reformation story. The greatest Victorian historian of Tudor England was James Anthony Froude, who eagerly explored the archives, but read them through inherited spectacles. A Protestant to his fingertips, he hated clergy, doctrine, religious mystery and, above all, Catholicism. He saw the break with Rome as the beginning of Britain’s rise to imperial greatness, and the Reformation as a confrontation between two incompatible civilisations. Froude knew that the Reformation had been imposed to begin with on a reluctant nation, but he rejoiced that this had happened.

A disciple of Thomas Carlyle, he thought history was not for the little people, but was made by heroes. “Up to the defeat of the Armada,” he wrote, “manhood suffrage in England would at any moment have brought back the Pope.” Happily, there was no democracy in Tudor England, and the country had been saved from itself by the tyrannical Henry VIII, and if the abbeys were unroofed, and a few hundred priests butchered in the process, that was a small price for imperial greatness and the march of progress. Shorn of its more blatant jingoistic rhetoric, Froude’s Protestant version of the Reformation would be recycled in the writing of academic history late into the 20th century.

Historians no longer take that venerable Protestant version for granted, but it is still alive and well in the wider culture. It underpins, for example, Shekhar Kapur’s biopic Elizabeth. It was reiterated recently by the journalist Simon Jenkins when he wrote that “most Britons had, by the late 15th century, come to regard the Roman church as an alien, corrupt and reactionary agent of intellectual oppression, awash in magic and superstition. They could not wait to see the back of it.”

But in multicultural England, the inherited Protestant certainties are fading. It is time to look again at the Reformation story. There was nothing inevitable about the Reformation. The heir to the throne is uneasy about swearing to uphold the Protestant faith, and it seems less obvious than it once did that the religion which gave us the Wilton Diptych and Westminster Abbey, or the music of Tallis, Byrd and Elgar, is intrinsically un-English. The destruction of the monasteries and most of the libraries, music and art of medieval England now looks what it always was – not a religious breakthrough, but a cultural calamity. The slaughtered Popish martyrs look less like an alien fifth column than the voices of a history England was not allowed to have.

 

Lutheran Anglicans?

Over at Cranach The Blog of Veith:

I met an Anglican priest the other day who, it turns out, was a big fan of Spirituality of the Cross and my other “Lutheran” books.  As I talked with him, I was astonished at how much he was into Lutheranism.  He explained that there is currently a strain in Anglicanism that is seeking to recover its Lutheran roots.

He said Anglicanism generally has had four theological strains:  (1) The mainline Protestantism of the Episcopal Church in America; (2) Anglo-Catholicism; (3) low church evangelicalism, which is often distinctly Reformed; (4) the charismatic movement.

But now, he says, a number of  Anglicans, especially young theologians, are rediscovering Luther, who was a major influence on the founders of Anglicanism, especially Thomas Cranmer.   They are finding that it is possible to be both sacramental and evangelical, liturgical and Biblical.  Above all, they are discovering that the Gospel as Luther understood it–radical, liberating–speaks powerfully to our own times and to the specific struggles of both Christians and non-Christians today.

The main force in this movement of Lutheran Anglicans or Anglican Lutherans is the Mockingbird Ministry, run by David Zahl and friends, whose main presence is the blog known as Mockingbird.  (Read the FAQ for why it’s called that.)  I have been reading and linking to it without realizing its role in a movement.  It’s a brilliant website, in both design and content.  Much of it is taken up with commentary on music, film, literature, and the culture as a whole.  But it’s also full of discussions of the distinction between Law & Gospel and the Theology of the Cross vs. the Theology of Glory.

It draws on ELCA theologians who are still Lutheran, such as Stephen Paulson and Gerhard Forde (who inspires a regular feature called “Forde Friday”), but also Missouri Synod stalwarts such as C. F. W. Walther and Rod Rosenbladt (who is called “our hero” and a formative influence).

And the design and tone are very cool and cutting-edged, not stodgy but young, sophisticated, even avant garde.

I’m not saying it’s all completely on target or could in every instance pass Missouri Synod doctrinal review–a recent post quotes Rudolph Bultmann, though one in which the liberal theologian sounds Lutheran–but it’s a good site to visit.

And it’s a challenge to us Lutheran Lutherans to remind us that, even as some of our own churches play it down, outsiders are finding our theology compelling.

 

Is This The End Result of Protestantism?

Disgraced bishop returns as Vicar of Martin Luther on earth.

Cathcon:

The “Bishop of Hearts” is to return and the church rolls out the red carpet for her: In a special service in Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, Margot Kaessmann this Friday was introduced to her new role as ambassador for the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 . The President of the Council of the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD), President Nikolaus Schneider, has given the theologian (aged 53) this prominent role The whirlwind is not without reason: The church will benefit from the popularity of Käßmann, which continues unabated, more than two years after her resignation from senior positions after conviction for drunk driving.

There are great expectations of Käßmann in her new office: Effective public they should advertise for the anniversary and to illustrate the contribution to the development of the Reformation of Church, State and Culture, said the EKD. From the charismatic popular figure in the Protestant Church promises the necessary attention for her well-main event for years. In addition, Käßmann will win church sponsors and supporters from outside the church for the anniversary and its activities (Cathcon- not least among them the former Chancellor Schroeder) .

The pop star from the Church of Hanover returns

Already on her resignation, there were calls for the quick return of the nationally popular and ever present in the media, Bishop of Hanover and former head of the EKD.  Church staff called for a renewed bid for episcopal office and also her successor at the top of the EKD, Praeses Schneider emphasized that Käßmann should remain an important voice in German Protestantism. As for other offices- after Horst Koehler’s resignation briefly as possible- she was discussed as President of Germany. Meanwhile, the theologian took time out at a US university and then took a one-year visiting professorship at the University of Bochum.

But what explains the phenomenon of Käßmann – that front woman of the church with a certain penchant for self-expression? “With integrity and missionary talents like the late Martin Luther filling churches and lecture halls, trying to ignite the torch of Protestant piety in the people,” says the blurb of her latest book. She is not completely insane, Käßmann says, laughing at the comparison with the Reformer. But the fact is: many of her now more than 80 books land on the bestseller lists and her public appearances attract crowds.

“She always seem to discuss exactly what concerns people, and in a kind manner,” an editor of another of her books recently said. “She does not talk over people, she talks to the people,” said the publisher on her many years of preaching church in Hanover. Käßmann is for people an example of moral integrity who can express complex issues in a simple manner, according to the former EKD spokesman Christof Vetter.

The theses of the reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546) against the selling of indulgences being nailed to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg on 31 October 1517 is considered the beginning of the Reformation . The plans for the anniversary have already been running for some time and the Federal Government has pledged a total of around 35 million euros in support including contributing to the restoration of the castle in Wittenberg. The new headquarters of Käßmann, meanwhile, is in the EKD representation in Berlin. Her office there is already decorated with a one-meter high plastic figure of Luther – in 2010 she was part of a controversial action of the church to place 800 one hundred mini-Luthers on the market place of Wittenberg.

Cathcon- it is bit difficult to come to terms with a church named after its founder, Martin Luther, who was, even for his day, a vicious anti-semite.   800 mini-Luthers but they reject the veneration of saints.

Don’t cry for me, Martin Luther-  the bishop on the day of her resignation.   Someone in the advertising agency has a sense of humour- the advertising accompanying the video is for a powerful BMW.

Or perhaps this is just continental European Protestantism at its worst?

 

Communion In the Hand is a Calvinist Novelty

Not even Martin Luther would have done it.

So says the Auxiliary Bishop of Astana in Kazakhstan:

In the last century the Old Liberal Bishops promoted hand Communion. They used a historical lie toward this end.

(kreuz.net) Present day Communion in the Hand has no roots in the early Church.

This was stressed by Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider (50) of Astana in Kazakhstan on the 19th on the radio station ‘Radio Maria Südtirol’

Msgr Schneider is a Patristic expert.

Hand Communion was contrived “all new” from the Second Vatican Council — the Auxiliary Bishop firmly said.

The antique Church had practiced a completely different form for the reception of Communion.

In that period the hand in which Communion was received was purified before and after.

Additionally, the faithful would take the Body of the Lord from their hand in a disposition of prayer with his tongue:

“If anything it was more of an oral reception of Communion than in the hand”.

After Communion, the communicant had to lick their hands with their tongues, so that even the smallest particle should not be lost.

A Deacon supervised the purification.

The Auxiliary Bishop cotinued: “This concern and care stands in direct opposition to indifference and carelessness with which so called Communion in the hand is dispensed.”

Women never held Communion simply on the flat of the hand.

They spread a white cloth, a manner of corporal over their hand.

Then, they would receive Communion directly to their mouth from the linen cloth.

“That is a tremendous contrast to the present form of Communion in the hand” — insisted Msgr Schneider.

The ancient faithful never took Communion with their fingers: “the gesture of hand Communion was completely unknown in the Church.”…

Read on here.