The Anglican World in Review – 2012

January 5, 2012
by George Conger

The passions and partisan divisions that inflamed the Anglican Communion over the past decade burned low in 2011, with most Churches turning their attention to domestic affairs. Civil unrest, economic collapse, natural disasters and the culture wars pushed the Communion’s fight over doctrine and discipline to one side.

No grand agreements were made nor understandings reached on the issue of autonomy and the role of Scripture in guiding the life of the church. Rather an ecclesiastical ennui, an exhaustion of battles without end, led most Churches to concentrate upon local issues.

This displacement did not arise from a meeting of minds or suspension of judgment arising for the Listening Process sponsored by the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) or other Church-backed dialogues, but out of a sense of futility felt by traditionalists and alienation felt by the progressive wing of the Church over the management of the debates.

The decision to avoid conflict in hope of gaining time to allow passions to die away adopted at Lambeth 2008, drove global Anglican relations throughout 2011. the rest