Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: elroy!grian!steve@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Steve Mitchell) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: apostolic succession Message-ID: Date: 2 Jul 90 07:21:05 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: College Park Software, Altadena, CA Lines: 48 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu jhpb@granjon.garage.att.com writes: >But leave the mission part of the definition. The doctrinal part of >apostolic succession is easier to discuss. It seems that whenever this >is brought up, there are Anglicans/Episcopalians claiming doctrinal >continuity with their predecessors. I am, as always, quite puzzled as >to why. >A primary part of my puzzlement is Anglican liturgy. Well, to be fair, >I shouldn't say Anglican, I should say Episcopalian. The Episcopalians >do not use the pre-Reformation liturgy. The BCP studiously avoids >prayers for the dead and the invocation of saints, and sacrifical >language. The old liturgies cannot be used, for that very reason. >I have a copy of the Sarum proper for the late 1400's; it is almost >identical to the Roman proper of the 1960's. The differences in the >canon have the appearance of typographical errors, nothing more. An "in >primis" vs. an "imprimis", a sentence split vs. a sentence whole, etc. >Daniel, are you really claiming solidarity with the British hierarchy of >the Middle Ages? >Joe Buehler Questions of Episcopal conformation with the old Sarum proper, or for that matter with traditional catholic doctrine, were mightily confused by decisions taken by the provincial synod of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America (PECUSA) back around 1977. At that time the synod adopted a lot of new cannons, a new prayerbook (the one you cite), and a _very_ liberal theology. So liberal, in fact, that those Episcopalians who wanted to remain faithful to the Anglican catholic tradition found it necessary to separate themselves from PECUSA and reconstitute themselves as the Anglican Catholic Church (in America and Canada). The ACC _does_ claim solidarity with the British hierarchy of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It uses a prayerbook (the 1929 edition of the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer) which is based on the 1637 Scottish Book of Common Prayer, which was based directly on the 1549 BCP written by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury under King Edward VI of England. The ACC is basically in agreement with most of the doctrines of the RCC, except some of the recent additions like papal infailability and the very recent elevation of the Immaculate Conception of Mary to dogma. -- - Steve Mitchell steve@cps.altadena.ca.us grian!steve@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov ames!elroy!grian!steve "God is licht, an in him there is nae mirkness ava." -- 1 John 1:5