Do you think spiritual ecstasy is dangerous?
It certainly can be. We have forgotten how dangerous religion can be. We think of it as a minority leisure pursuit ”“ another cup of tea, Vicar. To remember how dangerous it can be, you have to go back to before religion became obstinately metaphysical, to the Civil War, when the streets around here were filled with Levellers and Fifth Monarchists and other fanatics, who had caused a social revolution.
St Paul’s cathedral is, in some ways, Christopher Wren’s answer to religious enthusiasm ”“ God as a mathematician rather than the terrifying arbitrary God of the Civil War.
The great Bishop Butler says to John Wesley: ”˜pretending to special revelations of the Holy Ghost Mr Wesley is a very horrid thing. It’s a very horrid thing indeed.’ And it is indeed a very horrid thing. Unless it’s held firmly within a community of interpretation, with a shared communal experience of discerning between evil spirits and good spirits, then it’s very dangerous.
One of the wisest men I know and certainly one of the most faithful and effective Bishops within Anglicanism. Bishop Butler – and his successors – was not able to keep the Wesleyan revival within the Church of England. However, with over 20 church plants in UK and 100k+ courses worldwide! Chartres has not only kept HTB/Alpha within the CofE, he has leveraged the movement to lead the Communion from the brink of radicalism into the life-giving orthodoxy he describes in this interview.
This interview gives us a glimpse into ethos and missionary strategy of Lambeth as well as a window into why Rome and Canterbury is reaching a new level of missionary collaboration. They understand orthodoxy as more than “pure ideas” but entailing holy love for God and others.
Really excellent interview. Thanks for posting it.
As ever a wry and amusing contribution from Bishop Chartres writing enthusiastically notwithstanding his best protestations but with regard to good order and testing the fruit of the Spirit, as is right.
However, just a few thoughts on comment #1 from Tory+
[blockquote]life-giving orthodoxy [/blockquote]
and
[blockquote]They understand orthodoxy as more than “pure ideas†but entailing holy love for God and others[/blockquote]
That would be the new “generous orthodoxy” as it is being redefined I suppose.
[blockquote]a window into why Rome and Canterbury is reaching a new level of missionary collaboration[/blockquote]
I see no evidence for that after recent events as we have seen time and time again as the Ordinariate has been dusted off for the first time under Pope Francis.
An ecumenical garden, Cardinal Schonborn waving his hands in the air and a cricket match does not a “missionary collaboration” make, however much spin is put on the ball.