NEWS STORY: Episcopal Church moves to clarify faith

c. 1997 Religion News Service PHILADELPHIA _ An expected change in Episcopal Church law may for the first time in its 208-year-old history give church members a legally binding doctrine of faith. Currently the church operates under a common understanding that its doctrine is found in the Bible, historic creeds and its Book of Common […]

c. 1997 Religion News Service

PHILADELPHIA _ An expected change in Episcopal Church law may for the first time in its 208-year-old history give church members a legally binding doctrine of faith.

Currently the church operates under a common understanding that its doctrine is found in the Bible, historic creeds and its Book of Common Prayer.


But the church’s House of Bishops approved Tuesday (July 22) a formal definition that says doctrine is found in”the canons of holy Scripture as understood in the Apostles’ and Nicene creeds,”and three components of the Book of Common Prayer: the sacramental rites; the ordinal, which deals with the ordination of priests, deacons and bishops; and the Catechism, an outline of the Episcopal understanding of the Christian faith.

The bishops added that Scripture is the primary source for doctrine.

The issue, raised during the 2.4 million-member church’s triennial General Convention, is expected to be approved later this week by the lower House of Deputies. The convention ends Friday (July 25).

In proposing the definition of doctrine, Bishop Arthur Vogel of the Diocese of Western Missouri, said he specifically included the phrase”canons of holy Scripture”_ a reference to the entire Bible _ to prevent people from using selected texts of Scripture to come to moral decisions.”Scripture must be taken in its wholeness and integrity, rather than in isolated bits and sentences,”said Vogel, a theologian.

Bishop Joe Doss of the Diocese of New Jersey said the definition of doctrine is not an attempt to force the Episcopal Church into being a confessional church that strictly defines areas of belief, as Lutheran and Presbyterian bodies do.

Rather, convention delegates wanted to formally declare that the Episcopal Church has a defined doctrine.

But some conservative bishops objected to Vogel’s proposal. They believe that Episcopal Church doctrine is broader than the commonly understood trio of Scripture, creeds and prayer book, and includes every resolution adopted by the General Convention.

Bishop William Wantland of the Diocese of Eau Claire, Wisc., wanted the definition to include the 39 Articles of Religion adopted by the General Convention in 1801 and included in the historical documents section of the newest Book of Common Prayer. By excluding the articles, the bishops”will be repealing 200 years of history in this church and 450 years in the Church of England,”he said.


The drive to define the church’s doctrine grew from the church trial last year of Bishop Walter Righter, a retired bishop charged with violating church doctrine by ordaining a non-celibate homosexual to the priesthood in 1990.

During the Righter trial, Wantland and other conservatives argued for a broad Episcopal Church doctrine. In dismissing the case, the church court ruled that doctrine should be defined more narrowly, giving rise to Tuesday’s action.

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