The Identity of Anglicanism: Essentials of Anglican Ecclesiology [Paperback]

Paul Avis, the General Secretary of the Church of England's Council for Christian Unity, is a major figure in the world of Anglican ecclesiology. In The Identity of Anglicanism: Essentials of Anglican Ecclesiology, he presents the possible beginnings of a wonderfully rich understanding of Anglican identity. Reading the present monograph is intellectually exciting; in many ways, it is not unlike watching an athlete in a race who has just begun to pull forward, beyond the larger crowd of competitors. On the one hand, the athlete in question has yet to fully do so, and is therefore seen first and foremost in the context of the other athletes present. On the other hand, in noticing the beginnings of a potential victory, the viewer is also drawn to think about the implications of precisely this change of events. At the very least, because it evinces the beginnings of a shift in the ecclesiological landscape, The Identity of Anglicanism is a book that everyone ought to pay attention to; it is a volume that occupies a liminal space between certain conceptions of what has been, and the potential for what could be.

Avis wastes little time in stating the basic problem that is the impetus for the book: "In the recent past, a lack of seriousness about the Anglican tradition and Anglican ecclesiology has weakened our theological education and undermined our ecumenical involvement" (1). This lack of seriousness is rooted, Avis believes, in one of the main targets throughout the book: the idea that Anglicanism is so provisional a creation that it must ultimately efface itself entirely in order to accomplish the reunion of Christendom. In no uncertain terms, Avis argues that this is not the case, and that unless Bishops, in particular, recover a sense of the strengths of Anglicanism, we will not be protected "from their besetting sin, which is to act as benevolent pragmatists, who decide policy [...] by measuring the competing pressures upon them and then striking a balance" (6). Avis then sets out to clarify what constitutes Anglicanism.

Anglican distinctives are first and foremost methodological for Avis, and "bound up with a particular approach to authority" (153) which limits authority by investing it neither in any one person or office (i.e., as the papacy is for Roman Catholics), nor in a historic figure who possesses a level of theological weight and authority that is ultimately unmatched (i.e., as Luther is for the Lutherans, or as Calvin is for the Calvinists). Such a methodology works itself out in various doctrines that are unique to Anglicanism, although the greater importance is given to those doctrines that Anglicans share with other Christians - namely, the doctrines of the Incarnation and the Trinity (40). Avis is also clear that the three-fold order of bishops, priests, and deacons is a necessary part of Anglican existence, identity, and history, but he doesn't give any sort of theological rationale for what - if anything - Anglicans believe about distinctively catholic order. At least some sketch of the matter would have been welcome, as plenty has been written on point over the centuries.

Yet, the continuity of theological distinctives over the last five hundred years of Anglican history seems to be somewhat less clear for Avis. Although he writes that the `no special doctrines' claim is a "fallacy", he also writes that it is difficult to find "authoritative Anglican texts" (158). If this is the case, however, the entirety of Avis's argument falls apart, and his sense of Anglicanism's distinct and unique identity is just as feeble a construction as anyone else's. The basic point of this claim seems to be his statement that "Anglicanism is a continuous story" (160), such that trying to limit the tradition to any one moment is ultimately wrong. This emphasis on continuity - he is quite clear that Anglicanism did not suddenly begin in the sixteenth century - is something that Anglicans need to recover, just as we also need to recover a sense of the discontinuities that mark Western Catholic history (which Avis is also aware of). I wish, however, that he had brought out his point about continuity more forcefully, and perhaps even differently.

Traditions are traditions because they are a "continuous story" - this point is obvious enough. But, particular traditions are identifiable as particular traditions because they are located in the continuous story of "authoritative texts", just as they are located in the continuity of devotional patterns, forms of liturgical celebration, etc. I imagine that at some level Avis actually intuits this point; otherwise he could not write - for example - that "No one - but no one - can enrich Anglican theology more than [Richard] Hooker himself, as he has done continuously for centuries" (186). Yet, the point should be made that if Anglican distinctives are first and foremost methodological and secondarily doctrinal, then joining these together is the most distinctive of all facets of Anglicanism: our history. A stronger sense of our history is something that we do indeed need, for it alone can provide us with the vast panoply of resources, devotional movements, theological arguments, and ecclesiological convictions that make us Anglicans. Much of this can be found, in germ, in the church calendar; it must also be found in our own self-articulation, which is rooted in a sense of an identifiable continuity.

The Identity of Anglicanism gives its readers reasons to think deeply about the shape of a historical Anglican identity that is yet to come. The book's back cover displays favorable comments from two global Anglican leaders: Drexel Gomez, Archbishop of the West Indies and Chair of the Anglican Covenant Design Group, writes that Avis's book "should become required reading"; David Beetge, Bishop of Highveld in the Anglican Province of South Africa, and Co-Chair of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission, writes that it is "a welcome study of the nature of contemporary Anglicanism." These are high and accurate comments. Paul Avis has given interested Anglicans much to learn, consider, and ultimately celebrate in The Identity of Anglicanism. It is a necessary work for the present, and promises to be for the future as well.

In the popular mind, modern Anglicanism still conjures up a caricature of eccentric vicars sipping sherry and munching on cucumber sandwiches. In contrast, Paul Avis presents an Anglicanism that is real and relevant. With great lucidity, Avis presents the big picture as he carefully reveals Anglicanism's catholic roots, the significance of the reformation and Anglicanism's contemporary significance. Clearly, while Anglicanism shares much with other Christian traditions, it has a distinctive identity. This is Anglicanism at its comprehensive, gracious, feisty and inclusive best. Mind you, Avis does not gloss over its shortcomings; on the contrary, he spells them out, which only serves to underline Anglicanism's virtues. In all this, he refuses to succumb to the naysayers or capitulate to the increasingly influential fundamentalist movement. In so doing, Avis paints a portrait of Anglicanism with a future. As a result, it is evident that Anglicanism has the capacity to make a significant contribution to the wider church and the world issues.