Davids comments on Anglican upheaval

News broke on Wednesday that conservative Episcopalian churches were breaking away from from the worldwide Anglican communion and forming their own province, the Anglican Church in North America.

Good reporting on this can be found in the San Diego Union-Tribune, the New York Times, and Christianity Today.

On September 15, Peter Davids, a prominent New Testament scholar and charismatic Episcopalian priest, was interviewed on this blog about tensions in the Anglican communion. That interview can be read here.

I reached Dr. Davids today and he graciously consented to provide insight on this week's news. His comments follow:

"It seems to me that there are two good parts to this (not unexpected) move. First, a number of Anglican 'splinters' have gotten together. This proto-province is made up Reformed Episcopalians and AMNA and other groups, as well as those, like the Diocese of Pittsburgh, affiliated with the Province of the Southern Cone. There are Anglo-Catholics on the one side and rather conservative Reformed on the other. That in itself is newsworthy and worth celebrating. Before this each splinter has remained separate and often out of fellowship with the others. Second, in forming a proto-province (it will only be after the convention in the summer and the acceptance by other Anglican provinces that it will be fully a province), these leaders are trying to influence the Anglican Communion rather than taking their Anglican marbles and sitting in a corner. They are not struggling within the Episcopal Church, but rather on the global Anglican level. If they succeed, it will transform the Communion, for it could lead to official recognition of a rival to the Episcopal Church, the sidelining of Canterbury (unless the archbishop embraces the new province), and the enhanced strength of the Global South provinces.

"However, it would be premature to call all of this a done deal. This is a fractious coalition that is made up of overlapping movements, diocese, and other jurisdictions. To be successful they will eventually have to unify their structures, which will mean some will have to give up power. Furthermore, while all are orthodox, they hold different ecclesiologies, e.g. some ordain women and others left the Episcopal Church over the ordination of women. Can they find a way to live together long term, especially as the rivalry with the Episcopal Church fades? I hope so, but only time will tell.

"Finally, let us not think that this spells the end of the Episcopal Church. TEC still has 2 million members (the Anglican Province of North America has 100,000). TEC is declining, but at present rates it would take about 1000 years for it to reach zero. It gets along perfectly well with the Anglican churches in the northern hemisphere (e.g. Canada and Great Britain), and it is well-endowed. Cultural shifts could even start it growing again. The question will be whether the Anglican Communion splits into two or whether the two parts find a way to live together with the Archbishop of Canterbury as the pivot. There are also plenty of orthodox believers and clergy in the Episcopal Church.

"So I welcome this news for what it is, hope that the new province coalesces and is recognized, but I do not see this as the end of the Episcopal Church or even the end of orthodoxy in the Episcopal Church. On the other hand, while competition has not been at all Anglican, it is surely rather American, which might mean that a competitive Anglicanism in the USA/ North America will end up strengthening both sides of the competitive rivalry."