Category Archives: Anglican

New GOE Exam Question Proposal

As Marshall reminds us, the General Ordination Exams are now underway. I enjoyed Marshall’s observations about Exams then and now and was struck by his rumination on what would signify preparation for the clerical task today. I was struck, too, by his observation that the more recent questions are more academic than in his day.

As I was reading it, a question popped into my head that seems both useful, practical and a good measure of what candidates both should know and should be able to do. Here it is:

You can use your Bible and your Prayer Book; otherwise, no other outside resources. You have a full 8 hour day. Assume that tomorrow is The 3rd Sunday after Epiphany in Year A. Now–write a sermon for tomorrow that doesn’t suck.

Needless to say, I don’t expect to see this one on next year’s exam—but I can always dream…

Initial Thoughts toward an XML BCP

Since the Text Encoding Initiative is the standard for academic text coding (brief intro at Wikipedia), it makes sense that if one were to produce a web edition of the BCP , that would be the place to start. While the TEI has tagging for a wide range of texts, it currently does not have formal guidelines for tagging liturgical texts. However, work from the CANTUS and CURSUS projects are applicable:

  • CANTUS is a database-based model and therefore doesn’t translate exactly into xml but does offer some solutions that are readily adaptable. In particular their codes as listed here are helpful as a start.
  • CURSUS is a TEI project which does not currently but hopes to interface with CANTUS and therefore has done some of the work toward integrating the CANTUS codes into an xml framework. Some of this work is presented discursively here.

Big News from Rome

Looks like it’s finally happened! I was skeptical up to the last moment and am still trying to sort out the full story, but it looks like Rome is indeed accepting the Traditional Anglican Communion.

Updates:

  • why nothing from Zenit yet? Here’s the official word that there’s going to be a forthcoming even more official word.
  • Why exactly was ++Rowan present? Especially as this news—as far as I can tell—pertains to Anglicans not under his jurisdiction…
  • The response from Forward in Faith.
  • Some English Anglo-Catholic bishops already  have a timeline put together: decide to move by Feb. 22nd, 2010.
  • Some healthy reminders on the size and scope of this change from Br. Stephen.
  • As I’ve said a few times today in various places, I think the major shift here is conceptual rather than actual. It changes the way  the relationships between Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, and Orthodoxy are configured.

More to follow as data becomes available.

An Open Letter to Bishop Alexander

…is my latest piece up at the Cafe.

It’s a plea for the new hymnal—study for which was authorized by General Convention—to include a full complement of Office hymns, and to identify them as such. Too, it’s time for a new translation into contemporary English and I’m urging that, like the Prayer Book itself, these be released into the public domain.

We are the heirs of a long and profound liturgical tradition. We must remain good stewards of these riches.

Apocrypha in the Daily Office

In case you were wondering, the Daily Office contains:

  • Much of the first four chapters of 1 Maccabees (but none from the other 12),
  • 5 verses from 2nd Esdras,
  • Bits of Baruch 3 and 4
  • Quite a goodly selection from Ecclesiasticus,
  • Wisdom of Solomon gets some readings in there too.

Too, there are the stealth additions—Canticles 1/12, 2/13, and 14.

Thornton Thought for the Day

Do all members of the average Diocesan Conference, or of the House of Laity, live seriously and loyally by the Prayer Book pattern? Unless or until they do, those bodies are theologically incapable of making decisions of any real weight.

In the seventeenth century, individual liberty of conscience was firmly guarded, yet the “opinion of the Church” had real meaning. To-day it has not; not because individual Christians lack integrity or courage, but because they are not acting as, are not being, the Church. Our need is the same: spiritual guidance according to the Caroline pattern, based on the Catholic ascetical theology which the Prayer Book pattern embodies. To attain efficiency, we must either be true to our adult spirituality, or we must constitute a Sacred College through which the Archbishop of Canterbury can exercise total power!

Martin Thornton, English Spirituality, 238-9.