Anglicans have been slow to answer the late Stephen Sykes’ challenge to craft a distinctly and self-consciously Anglican systematic theology.
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(This is altogether different than saying that the Anglican tradition cannot claim bright and influential theologians who have made notable contributions to the field: over the last fifty years, it has seemed at times that we have had an embarrassment of riches.) But if one were to construct such a theology, it would clearly place to the fore the role of worship, prayer, and the embodied life of a church community. These would not be sources and norms, not as such, but they would provide something like lenses for the subject, or organizing principles for such knowledge, and contexts for its pursuit.
Although the pieces for this issue were not solicited to demonstrate this thesis, they nevertheless reflect it, either implicitly or explicitly.
Grace Gibbs DuPree leads off our articles with a consideration of what was lost—and what might be profitably reclaimed—through the “logoclasm” of the English Reformation. It is commonly known that the Reformation (and, perhaps more, the Interregnum) featured widespread iconoclasm, destruction of icons, statues, windows, paintings and such associated with the Medieval church. Less widely known outside of the field is the extent of logoclasm, or destruction of books and particularly liturgical poetry deemed erroneous, or otherwise seeming too friendly to earlier piety. As she writes, “a millennium of Christian poetry, hymnody, and liturgy was swept away”—although not totally. (p.274)
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Many such texts remain in some form, yet are neglected in our liturgical and theological work. DuPree focuses on two less well-known texts in particular, the Lenten hymn of Lauds and the Benedictus antiphon of Epiphany, in an effort to show how this poetry did not merely repeat traditional theological understandings but expanded on them, offering fuller understandings of biblical texts. She also raises the question of whether liturgical texts only reflect Anglican doctrinal formulations but can also—legitimately—shape them. The project of reclaiming such texts she calls the Markyate Project, after the nuns of the Markyate Priory who helped save the famous St. Alban’s Psalter from the fate of logoclasm.
Next, Daniel Graves turns to the sacramental theology of the seventeenth-century English thinker John Hales, a fellow of Eton. Graves focuses on Hales’ surprising suggestion that the words of institution are not necessary for communion. This queries both Roman Catholic and Reformed thinking of his time, which would have insisted on them. Against them Hales points out that in the biblical text Jesus commands that the church “do this,” rather than “say this”: the words were necessary for Jesus because they were instructive, but they were not to be understand as an efficacious formula and necessary for the sacrament. Hales suspects that this is a case of custom—tradition—being allowed to overrun Scripture and reason: in this concern, he follows Richard Hooker. Hooker would argue that customs do not need to be abolished, but they are not authoritative in the same way as Scripture and reason; Hales would agree, yet goes further in being more willing to question and critique custom. After all, custom, in being contingent, cannot be considered necessary for the thing itself. Hales’ argument is less against the practice of using the words of institution themselves and more about what might be considered mere custom versus what was theologically requisite—in part to clear the ecumenical ground for Christians of differing churches to worship in common.
Our third article, by Michael Spencer, takes account of the loss of living engagement with the traditions of lament and praise in the psalms. Spencer sets out the conditions which led to their withering, and explores what has been lost as a result. This is crucial not only for the sake of restoring the full ecology of prayer and worship of God, but also because of the urgent need for a trauma-informed theological framework in the face of legacies of abuse in independent schools. Drawing on Psalm 22 and the work of trauma-informed feminist theologians, Spencer makes the case that retrieving this voice of lament allows for victims to re-establish their agency “against a backdrop of trust in God’s saving mercy.” (p.317)
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The ultimate goal of entering into lament in this way is not to remain in lament but to “create the condition for repair and healing and the re-membering of community” against the background of praise and trust in God, and into the Holy Spirit’s work to healing and renewal to the world.
Intriguingly, our two Reviews in Depth for this issue pick up similar themes. Rebecca Poe Hays moves beyond lament to examine imprecation—cursing—in the psalms in her review of Trevor Laurence’s book Cursing with God: The Imprecatory Psalms and the Ethics of Christian Prayer.
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Laurence traces an intriguing line through not only the Psalms, but the entire canon, connecting this cursing ultimately with Jesus himself, and then exploring how the church might employ imprecation in our own settings, as a “cry for God’s justice and righteousness.” (p.352)
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Katherine Goodwin returns to the subject of the theological potency of prayer and devotion as she reviews Steven Rozenski’s Wisdom’s Journey: Continental Mysticism and Popular Devotion in England, 1350-1650. Rozenski sketches the popularity of devotional treatises during this time, while also outlining how they changed over the years to suit the needs of their audiences.
Each of these in its own way draws the language of worship, the practice of prayer, and the life of the gathered worshiping community deeply into the task of theology, providing a glimpse of the context and conditions of Anglican theology.
Alongside these, this issue offers a special feast in the form of a roundtable discussion of Stephanie Spellers’ book, The Church Cracked Open: Disruption, Decline, and New Hope for Beloved Community.
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In a book both popular and academic, that has been widely read in the Church, Spellers writes from the dual crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and the George Floyd protests, calling the Episcopal Church into deep critical engagement with its racist history and white supremacist present, summoning the church to move beyond self-centeredness toward kenosis, or self-emptying, as we enter into solidarity with one another. The roundtable opens with Francisco Garcia’s response. Theologian, priest, organizer, and labor studies scholar at Vanderbilt University, García calls Speller’s book a love letter to the church. Putting his experiences as a labor and immigration rights organizer in Los Angeles in conversation with Speller’s book, Garcia pushes the church to express kenosis and solidarity through deeper practice of community organizing, direct action, and civil disobedience, in the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez. Winnie Varghese lifts up the deep challenge that Speller’s book represents for the church, asking “Where there is room to deal with a text like this in our church . . . What will we do with this information from the underside?” (p.328)
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James Perkinson, theologian, prolific writer, and activist writing from inner city Detroit, brings his deep reflections on the processes of white settler decolonization, pushing Spellers to extend her critique and vision toward eco-theological inclusion of the non-human world. William Franklin recalls his experiences with Spellers at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and challenges her to take more seriously the Eucharist as a tool for combating the rising tide of Christian nationalism and related white supremacy. And finally, Drew Jackson, an evangelical pastor, activist and contemplative, and director of mission integration for Rohr’s Center for Action and Contemplation, offers a final response. Jackson amplifies Speller’s insistence on kenosis and self-emptying to combat what he terms “self-centric salvation” that plagues all sorts of Christians, separating us from other people. The roundtable concludes with Speller’s response to each interlocutor. Here, Canon Spellers provides additional context and explanation, emphasizes key areas of overlap, engages in theological debate, and shows how her thinking continues in conversation.
We are proud to offer all of these, trusting that they will stimulate thoughtful conversation in and for the church.
JASON A. FOUT and JENNIFER S. HUGHESCo-Editors in Chief, The Feast of St. James the Apostle
