I’ve got a piece up at the Cafe responding to Donald’s pieces on the saints. Clearly the saints are an topic where there is a lot of latitude with Anglicanism. I don’t think polemics are the way to go here and as a result my article takes an irenic tone and strives to show how the a proper theology of saints is rooted in Christology and ecclesiology.
Baptism is at issue here. There have been and are lots of wonderful people in the world worthy of emulation. But, as I’ve been taught it, being baptized and choosing to conform to Christ (rather than general principles of goodness) lie at the heart of Christian sanctity.
And Pneumatology. I always remind that for Anglicans Christology and Pneumatology are intimately linked. Our 1549 Prayer of Consecration is a supreme example of this linking the Word (referring to the Institution Narrative) and the Spirit.
That connection between Pneumatology and Christology is especially highlighted during this Ascensiontide as we remember that it is Christ who “fills all things” and at the same time we await the celbration of the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost. At least it struck me that way during our liturgy last night.
So…does the decline in the celebration of Ascension Day among Episcopalians have any relation to our increasing fuzzy-mindedness about what it means to be an Anglican? Given Christopher’s previous post, I thought I’d ask.
Vicki+
It has been thought by some theologians that the Ascension is the pinnacle or crown of Christ’s work on our behalf and intimately related to the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Church already foretasted in the giving to the Apostles’ the ministry within the Church. It expresses alongside Pentecost the Anglican sense of our life and participation not in mere institution but in Body instituted and constituted by the Right and Left Hands of the Father. In other words, a life of participation in the Holy Trinity.
For me, the two alternative Collects together suggest the heart of what we mean by Anglicanism as an “incarnational tradition” or ethos.