Abstract
This attractively produced and important volume is the second to appear in a projected series of four, the first being Faith (2024), with Activism and Mysticism to follow. Conversations in Global Anglican Theology presents essays by six Anglican ‘theologians and spiritual leaders’ (p. xiii) together with a valuable foreword by Sam Wells under the overall editorship of Michael Battle.
Complementary interdisciplinary approaches are offered upon themes that question and critique any Western privilege that might be assumed by ‘white intellectuals who are privy to white academic institutions’ and any who in turn might assume the role of ‘gatekeepers [determining] legitimate texts as well as legitimate thought’ (p. xvii).
Perspectives from Africa, Australia, Pakistan and the USA interweave themes of culture and Anglican identity as the twenty-first century moves into its second quarter and leadership within Anglican Communion shifts south and east from its former Church of England and North Atlantic stronghold. The authors adopt a narrative approach that blends rich and honest self-reflection from within personal experience alongside theological perspectives that lay bare how ‘[t]he cultural hegemony of White Western and European thinkers and writers has shaped [ecclesiological and theological] discourse for centuries’ (p. 27)
Within this framework, criticism is levelled against British colonial and missionary activity where it endorsed traditions of historic patriarchy and wider manifestations of, for example, gender inequality and sexual discrimination, both in the professional workplace and in the domestic setting. The Anglican Communion is sympathetically presented by the authors as that context within which these imbalances can be corrected. To work towards this end, one of the essayists exhorts that the Anglican Communion ‘must evolve into a tapestry of cultures, repenting past harms and celebrating diversity. In the face of colonial trauma, gender exclusion, and ecclesial complicity, we must envision a theology of healing and justice, especially for women’ (p. 81).
Throughout the pages of Conversations is a suggestive interleaving critique. Unity in the Anglican Communion internationally is currently under strain. Antagonistic claims averring violations of church order and doctrine have destabilized what was previously a fragile and somewhat tender way of things going back a number of years within the Anglican Communion. Not all of the antagonisms have come about from, for example, historical British colonialism or Northern hemisphere ecclesial hegemony, but they are presented in a headstrong cocktail of indigenous ecclesiastical pre-judgement amidst local or national politics – not least from a Central African locus. Perhaps other essays in this four-volume series will address subtle nuances in all these matters, more than seems the case here. Of the six essays in this volume, the contribution by James Tengatenga comes closest to doing so.
Nonetheless, it remains the case that essay compilations such as this contain helpfully welcome considerations that lay before the reader important issues that need to be addressed; in this sense, they are significantly refreshing. Conversations opens the reader’s horizon towards deeper and broader matters that challenge prejudice (qua pre-judgement) and pave the way for metanoia of heart and mind. This anthology of essays seeks to outline the importance of culture in shaping, as Khushnud Azariah notes, ‘how we lead, live and love’. She continues: ‘It influences how we interpret scripture, exercise leadership, communicate meaning, and express care’ (p. 179).
The essays are diverse but complementary. Readers schooled in a more analytical tradition and of a more forensic Western mindset may well find themselves frustrated. What is offered in these pages is a strong emphasis on, and deployment of, ‘narrative experience’. The authors of these essays seek to enlarge classic Anglican approaches to, and deploy new trajectories for, truth-seeking.
To summarize, one of the essay authors notes the direction of travel, of his own particular essay as well as of the fourfold series of Conversations as a whole: ‘The four-legged stool of this book series … offers … a more grounded and global way of being Anglican’ (p. 15). Having read the book, I am inclined to agree, despite some personal misgivings about the style and mixed approach.