“Until the Covenant process is complete, no Province will unilaterally violate an established Anglican article of faith and practice, in particular Lambeth Resolution 1.10. Any Province refusing to abide by this provision, will forfeit its role in the process and be replaced by an entity which is willing to abide by it.”
How’s them apples!
- Stephen Noll suggests that Lambeth Resolution 1.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference is an article of faith.
- He states clearly the dream scenario: That the Episcopal Church refuses to abide by this provision (jacking up 1.10 to an article of faith) and will forfeit its place in the Anglican Communion to another entity willing to abide by it. (Wonder who?)
The blurb on the Church Newspaper says, “The Rev Prof Stephen Noll is Vice Chancellor of Uganda Christian University and author of ‘The Global Anglican Covenant: A Blueprint.’”
The paper, “The Global Anglican Covenant: A Blueprint,” is worth the read. But this suggested “provision” is transparently wishful thinking, based on an awful idea, namely that any statement of any Lambeth Conference at any time could possibly be an “article of faith.” If membership in the Anglican Communion were to require this, we would indeed be at a moment of new reformation, needing to shed Lambeth 1.10 as we did the notion that the Pope as the Vicar of Christ can make statements are infallible.
This provision is just that - a vision looking for a right time coming. But that right time will not come, I think. Instead Noll has bitten from an apple of temptation and dream, and it will not nurish or sustain.
