Articles

<Previous Edition | Volume 25 Number 4 2008 | Next Edition>

Read the Editorial for this issue

Anvil Volume 25 Number 4 2008

Reflections on Lambeth 2008

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, Bishop Graham Dow, Bishop Martin Wallace, Bishop Colin Fletcher and Brian D McLaren

This summer, Anglican bishops, their spouses, and other guests from around the world gathered for the fourteenth Lambeth conference. Our guest edited issue (25.2) on Anglicans in Mission was made available to all who attended and for this issue of the journal we asked a number of those present to provide their own short personal reflections on the Conference and how it has shaped their own ministries. We are grateful to the Archbishop of South Africa, the bishops of Carlisle and Dorchester (both Anvil trustees) and the bishop of Selby for writing at short notice and also to Brian McLaren who spoke at the conference and brings a non-Anglican perspective from a leader in the emerging church movement. Their accounts inevitably have some overlap but taken together they give a strong sense of the diverse ways in which God was at work through the gathering and also of the wider importance of the Anglican Communion.

The Most Revd Thabo Makgoba grew up in the township of Alexandra, north of Johannesburg. He trained in, and taught, psychology, before ordination within the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. In 2002 he was consecrated Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Grahamstown, and became its Diocesan in 2004. In September 2007 he was elected Archbishop of Cape Town and Metropolitan of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa, and was installed in March 2008. He was a member of the Lambeth Conference 2008 Design Group.

The Right Reverend Graham Dow is Bishop of Carlisle and Chair of the Trustees of Anvil.

The Right Reverend Martin Wallace is Bishop of Selby in the Diocese of York.

The Right Reverend Colin Fletcher OBE is Bishop of Dorchester in the Diocese of Oxford and a Trustee of Anvil.

Brian D McLaren is an author, speaker and pastor who networks among Christian leaders, thinkers, and activists especially in the Emerging Church movement. His website is www.brianmclaren.net. His Lambeth Conference presentation notes are available here and the Powerpoint slides are available here.

Michael Polanyi and the Knowledge of Faith

Tony Clark

This year has marked the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Michael Polanyi's major work, Personal Knowledge. In this article Tony Clark introduces us to some of his key insights about how we come to know, based on his thinking about scientific knowledge, particularly the role of 'tacit knowledge' and 'apprenticeship'. He shows how these challenge some common evangelical views about the relationship between theological ideas and Christian practice. He illustrates the implications of this for how we learn about faith in the life of the church, with reference to the role of corporate worship in people's theological understanding.

The Revd Dr Tony Clark is Associate Professor of Ethics at Friends University, Wichita, Kansas. His doctoral work was on the thought of Michael Polanyi and he has recently published Divine revelation and human practice: responsive and imaginative participation (Cascade, 2008).

CMS and New Mission II

Tim Dakin

Concluding his exploration of the changing challenges and shape of world mission which he began in the last issue of Anvil, Tim Dakin, General Secretary of the Church Mission Society, here examines the nature of network mission and what he describes as the four systems of a mission economy: mission capital, contextual mission, transcultural mission and mission network.

The Revd Canon Tim Dakin is General Secretary of the Church Mission Society (CMS), Hon Canon Theologian of Coventry Cathedral and a Trustee of Anvil.

To make sure you get this year's issues, why not subscribe to ANVIL.