I hesitate to comment on recent events in the Anglican world, but things seem to have heated up since General Convention. If you want to keep abreast of developments, check out the blogs I’ve listed. They aren’t particularly representative of the complete spectrum of positions, but their authors are thoughtful, and the comments often insightful.

Soon after General Convention, the Archbishop of Canterbury, musing on the passed resolutions and their implications for the Anglican Communion, posited the development of a “two-track” approach in which the Episcopal Church might be left out in the cold if it refused to sign on to a covenant, while individual dioceses could sign on. In August, the ABC met with seven “communion partner” bishops, who apparently stressed their commitment to Covenant and Communion.

After the ABC’s pronouncement, rumblings from the Church of England were heard, as the liberal wing of that Church began to voice its support for the Episcopal Church and began seeking ways of strengthening ties with it.

Most recently, the Diocese of South Carolina has issued statements about its future in the Episcopal Church. It seems headed for everything but outright separation. It also seems to want to emerge as yet another umbrella organization.

In other words, plus ca change…

I have stated in the past, and I continue to think that the notion of a covenant is a non-starter, for all sorts of reasons. The genius of Anglicanism, and its appeal, has traditionally been its messiness–or to use another word–its ambiguity. I have never accepted the theological, historical, or ecclesiological arguments for papal supremacy and I am not about to accept an Anglophone version of it.

The problem with the Anglican Communion for me is not the idea of it. Rather, what I question is the way it is made concrete. Of the “Instruments of Communion” only one, the Anglican Consultative Council, draws its members from outside the Episcopacy. That’s dangerous and anti-democratic and hardly consistent with the vision of the Church presented in the New Testament.