The Challenge of Tradition: Discerning the Future of Anglicanism

A.J. Pell is the rector of Holy Trinity Cathedral, Diocese of New
Westminster in British Columbia.

In June 1994, more than 700 Canadian Anglicans from the evangelical,
charismatic, and Anglo-Catholic constituencies of the church met in
Montreal for the “Essentials ’94” conference. Out of that
conference emerged the 15-point “Montreal Declaration of Anglican
Essentials” and the book Anglican Essentials, which contained the
addresses given at the conference. The conference, and the resulting
“Essentials movement,” challenged the Anglican Church of Canada to
take on issues that Anglicans had avoided addressing for decades. The
Challenge of Tradition is a moderate liberal response to the Essentials
movement in general and the “Montreal Declaration” in particular.

The book comprises eight essays. The first two critique the
Declaration’s theological worldview from feminist and liberal catholic
points of view. The next two essays consider the use of the scriptures
in the Montreal document. The fifth and sixth essays offer critiques
based on theological anthropology and current missiology. The seventh
essay presents a five-step hermeneutical process for dealing with times
of discontinuity in theological proclamation. The last essay proposes a
centrist approach to dealing with the current theological differences
within Anglicanism.

Although these essays are thoughtful and interesting, their scholarly
nature makes them less accessible to the layperson than, say, Anglican
Essentials was. In addition, they sometimes betray a defensive, or even
angry, tone. For example, Paul Jennings writes that “the techniques of
Reform party politics are being used to stifle the living presence of
the Spirit.”

Nevertheless, The Challenge of Tradition is a useful contribution to
the long-delayed and necessary debate about the future shape and
direction of Canadian Anglicanism.