Anglicanism and the Bible

by Frederick Houk Borsch

Book Overview

Slight crease. Pages are clean and crisp. Binding is tight. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0819213373
• ISBN13: 9780819213372
• Release Date: January 1984
• Publisher: Morehouse Publishing
• Length: 261 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.

Customer Reviews

For the Bible tells me so...

The Episcopal church in the twentieth century took advantage of the general availability of publishing to good advantage, compiling through several auspices different collections and teaching series, the latest of which was only completed a few years ago. One of the better of the 'unofficial' collections of teaching texts is the Anglican Studies Series by Morehouse press, put out in the 1980s, which comprise several volumes that look at different aspects - theology, spirituality, history, and more. This volume, 'Anglicanism and the Bible' edited by Frederick Houk Borsch, looks at the ways in which the Bible is used, interpreted and given authority in Anglicanism.Anglicanism is often characterised as rest on a three-legged stool of Scripture, Tradition, and Reason. These three elements have a dialectical relationship with each other - none is necessarily dominant, and the emphasis can vary over time, place, and community sensibilities. Scripture plays an important role in various ways, not the least of which in its influence in the liturgies - much of the liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer derives from or is influenced by biblical passages; it is a moment of recognition for Anglicans when, during the formal times for reading scripture in the service, something from the biblical passage that inspired the usual liturgical constructions is read, reinforcing the familiar in different contexts.Anglicanism decided fairly early not to adopt the Lutheran and other Protestant principle of sola scriptura (of course, many of the traditions that adopted this formula nonetheless have unofficial aspects of their construct every bit as strong as the tradition and reason parts are for Anglicanism). Given the global nature of Anglicanism, and the tensions that existed in post-Reformation Britain between catholic and protestant influences, there has never been a single, dominant method of interpretation of scripture, nor a unified vision as to its overall authority in all contexts. This text consists of six essays, not intended to be comprehensive, but which do cover many important topics. William Haugaard looks at the history of biblical development in English. Marion Hatchett follows this topic with a look at the Bible in worship contexts, including incorporation into the liturgical language, lectionary decisions, and music. John Booty carries the historical strand forward into the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including the Tractarian movement. Reginald Fuller looks at the development of historical criticism, also in the nineteenth century, and how new methods of biblical criticism are alternately resisted and incorporated into Anglicanism. Taylor Stevenson looks at one of the most modern controversies involving the Bible, and that is the connection and discontinuity between science and the biblical witness. The final chapter is written by the editor, Borsch, drawing together the different strands in the book, as well as developing a view of