EASTER 2007
From the Editor... Ad Fontes
“The longer you look back,” said Winston Churchill, “the farther you can look forward.”
I get a lot of phone calls and emails these days asking for a way to
gain perspective in the midst of the great challenges to Anglicanism at
the beginning of the 21st century. There are no easy answers, no
simple solutions, and no short road maps available. As Bishop Tom
Wright has noted in a speech to the Church of England General Synod, we
have not been this way before.
In the midst of this uncertainty, a call to all of us may be found in
Churchill’s words above and in the phrase “Ad Fontes,” literally “to
the sources.” This was the key emphasis of the Renaissance, which
came from scholars” rediscovered passion to go back to the original
sources, the Greek and Latin classics. A similar desire to go
back to the Bible itself on its own terms led to the Protestant
Reformation.
To the sources is easier to say than to do. When I was a graduate
student at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, I was
privileged to be in an environment where American, Canadian, Asian, and
European students intermixed in nearly equal numbers. In the
seminars one difference between the Americans and all the others was
their over reliance on secondary sources. They would say Karl
Barth said or believed something, but it would be based on a book or
article they had read about Barth. When the non-American students
challenged them to show where this idea actually appeared in Barth’s
own writings, in nine out of ten instances they were stumped.
A similar problem is present in today’s church. Most people will
not admit it, but the truth is busy clergy often put sermons together
based on pulpit helps and commentaries about the Bible rather than a
study of Scripture itself. Books about Anglicanism are far, far
more relied upon than original 16th century Anglican texts.
I plead for an avoidance of all such shortcuts. To the Bible and
to the original Cranmerian liturgies and the Anglican
formularies. To our foundational documents in prayer, thought,
meditation, small group study, adult education classes, and whatever
other means are available.
The way forward is the long look back – all the way back – to the
sources. It has led to powerful renewal in the Church before, and
it can happen again.
The
Rev. Canon Dr.
Kendall S. Harmon
Contact Dr
Harmon by
e-mail at ksharmon@mindspring.com
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