Time to test Australian Anglicanism
Anglicanism could be said to have begun in Australia on Sunday, February 3, 1788 when Richard Johnson, commissioned as a chaplain by George III to minister in New South Wales, conducted Morning Prayer and preached to all the complement of the First Fleet already disembarked at Sydney Cove.
The volume under review surveys what has happened to Anglicanism in Australia since that beginning. Twelve scholars, men and women, with Bruce Kaye as general editor and three associate editors, contribute a symposium of introductions and thirteen essays in two divisions: narrative and themes.
Each narrative chapter deals with a particular period, usually with reference to a dominant feature. For example, ‘The Anglican Ascendancy 1788-1835’ (Brian Fletcher).
The themes range across the whole span, and are designed to draw out features of Anglican policy and activity in relation to issues in Australian social history, such as ‘Indigenous Peoples’ (John Harris) and ‘Gender Issues’ (Anne O’Brien), or in relation to wider Anglican connections such as theological debate (Bill Lawton), and ‘Australian Anglicanism in a World-wide Context’ (Stuart Piggin).
Unavoidably, the picture of any given period or theme is somewhat sketchy, but as a whole the volume is well coordinated and creates an opportunity for further study and discussion. It is, in fact, part of a larger enterprise of study and research supported by a web-based archive of resources containing an extensive collection of sources relevant to the chapters of this book.
A number of essays (for example those by Kaye and Piggin) draw attention to a feature of Australian Anglicanism which distinguishes it from other Anglican churches, such as those of England, Canada or USA. This is the superior authority of diocesan synods to the General Synod in matters which affect the order and good government of the church within a diocese.
The consequences of this are not, however, fully explored. There is mention of ‘tolerable plurality’ of opinion and practice within the Church. But I do not recall seeing any reference to the fact (though it was made clear at the time) that the ordination of women, authorised in some dioceses but not others, created not merely divergence of practice but a breach of communion between certain dioceses, since there was no longer a full mutual recognition of all ordained ministers. The 1988 Lambeth Conference described such a lack of full recognition as ‘impaired communion’, but the Australian lack of full internal communion is apparently not noted in the present volume.
There will be a variety of reactions to historical or theological judgements of particular authors. For example, I do not accept the view of two authors regarding the influence of the Church of England in South Africa (CESA) on policies of the Diocese of Sydney. However, the study is wide-ranging and challenging, and merits serious attention.
Perhaps our most urgent response should be to examine our Australian Anglicanism, as it has come to be, by testing it against an ‘Anglicanism’ whose essential character is defined by our 1962 Constitution. In other words by testing it against the doctrine and principles of the Book of Common Prayer, the Ordinal, and 39 Articles, as well as more fundamentally in Apostolic Faith and Order, the holy scriptures, and the Lord’s commands, teaching and discipline.
