Monday, October 31, 2005

south to south encounter document

I have to say, in general, I am pretty impressed with the document. I had been worried (1) that they were going to announce a new Anglican Patriarch of Alexandria or something, or relatedly (2) that they were going to come up with some plumb-line Evangelical Confession without signing onto which no one could be in communion with them. The document is one of the more catholic-leaning things I have seen to come out of Anglicanism. It even uses the phrase "apostolic succession" in reference to the bishops roll in guarding the Church's apostolicity. Hoozah. Also note the inspiration of the blood of the martyrs in the paragraph on violence. It also seemingly strikes at the right balance in its commendation of both Scripture and "the historic teaching of the Church" as the proper checks of catholicity on innovation. I say well done. We have both avoided disaster here, and we have a clear, incisive, theologically articulate, catholic document. Hoozah.

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