Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Bishops in 1968: "Apprehension of Truth is a Growing Thing"

Here's a splendid expression of the Episcopalian approach to -- well, everything -- that came out of the decennial Lambeth Conference of 1968:
Comprehensiveness demands agreement of fundamentals, while tolerating disagreement on matters in which Christians may differ without feeling the necessity of breaking communion.  In the mind of an Anglican, comprehensiveness is not compromise.  Nor is it to bargain one truth for another.  It is not a sophisticated word for syncretism.  Rather it implies that the apprehension of truth is a growing thing: we only gradually succeed in "knowing the truth." It has been the tradition of Anglicanism to contain within one body both Protestant and Catholic elements.
Source:  Kwok Pui-Lan. "The Anglican Church as a Cultural Hybrid." Education for Ministry: Reading and Reflection Guide, volume B: Living Faithfully in a Multicultural World. New York: Morehouse Publishing, 2014.

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