One of the few pleasures of having been off sick for a few days was making my way through Leo Donald Davis' "The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325-787): Their History and Theology". It is really one of the first major works in English to try to grasp the whole movement of the 7 Ecumenical Councils. It was first published in 1983. It covers an era of church history which is now gone; and the church of that era should be subject to neither nostalgia nor contempt. It might well be said that it covers an era when "doing church" (to use modern jargon) was so much different. Can we even think of what it might mean to have a truly "ecumenical" council? A time and place and occasion when the whole church, or at least representatives of the whole church, could gather to discuss, and might I add, to decide? Sounds marvelous in theory, but in practice:
Well, there you have it.
A few Anglicans have been having councils recently:
Bishop Donald Harvey's charge to the Anglican Network in Canada Synod in Burlington
Conservative clergy unveil new plan (Toronto Star online)
Diocese of Quincy ends affiliation with the Episcopal Church (US), and joins Southern Cone
Fort Worth Diocese (US) is on the "verge of secession"
Over at Dean Robin's blog there is a letter posted from the bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Rupert's Land; here is a snippet:
May the Holy Spirit fill your hearts and lives with joy as you prepare for the season of Advent when we anticipate the celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus as Saviour of the world and await his return in glory as the Judge of that same world.
As a side note, I find that often the first casualty in "church" discussions is Acts 23:5: And Paul said, ‘I did not realize, brothers, that he was high priest; for it is written, “You shall not speak evil of a leader of your people.” ’
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