Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T18:33:25.508Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Dialogue Amidst Multiformity: A Habermasian Breakthrough in the Development of Anglican Eucharistic Liturgies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 April 2009

Abstract

This article argues that a breakthrough is possible in the development of Anglican eucharistic liturgies. A dialogue approach holds out the promise of distancing the process of liturgical development from party spirit and particular interest, and focusing it instead on the self-reflection and intersubjectivity of communicative action, while also recognizing the multiformity of philosophical assumptions underlying the Anglican eucharistic tradition. Such a process has potential to emancipate the Anglican eucharistic tradition from conflict and centre attention on a more critical self-reflection on the discourse of the tradition. Eucharistic liturgies in use in Australia are considered in terms of their underlying philosophical assumptions, and recommendations are made for the use of a dialogue approach based on Habermas’s theory of communicative action.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Journal of Anglican Studies Trust 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1.

Brian Douglas, Rector St Paul’s Anglican Church, Manuka, Australia; Lecturer in Theology at St Mark’s National Theological Centre, Canberra and Conjoint Lecturer, University of Newcastle, Australia. Terence Lovat, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education and Arts) University of Newcastle, Australia.

References

2. T. Lovat and B. Douglas, ‘Dialogue Amidst Difference in Anglican Eucharistic Theology: A Habermasian Breakthrough’, Australian EJournal of Theology, 9 (March 2007), online at http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/research/theology/ejournal/aejt_9/lovat.htm. Accessed 6 January, 2008.Google Scholar

3. Bruce Kaye, Reinventing Anglicanism: A Vision of confidence, community and engagement in Anglican Christianity (Adelaide: Open Book, 2003).Google Scholar

4. Rowan Williams, ‘The challenge and hope of being an Anglican today: A reflection for the bishops, clergy and faithful of the Anglican Communion’, Anglican Communion News Service, ACNS 4161, Lambeth, 27 June 2006, online at http://anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/41/50/acns4161.cfm. Accessed 6 January, 2008.Google Scholar

5. Lovat and Douglas, ‘Dialogue’.Google Scholar

6. Lovat and Douglas, ‘Dialogue’.Google Scholar

7. Jurgen Habermas, Knowledge and Human Interests (trans. J.J. Shapiro) (Boston: Beacon Press, 1971), Theory and Practice (trans. T. McCarthy) (Boston: Beacon Press, 1973), The Theory of Communicative Action. Volume 1. Reason and the Rationalization of Society (trans. T. McCarthy) (Boston: Beacon Press, 1984) and The Theory of Communicative Action. Volume 2. Lifeworld and System: A Critique of Functionalist Reason (trans. T. McCarthy) (Boston: Beacon Press, 1989).Google Scholar

8. Habermas, Knowledge and Human Interests, p. 3.Google Scholar

9. Habermas, Theory. Volume 1, p. 106.Google Scholar

10. Lovat and Douglas, ‘Dialogue’.Google Scholar

11. Thomas McCarthy, ‘Translator’s Introduction’, in J. Habermas, Theory. Volume 1, p. xxvi.Google Scholar

12. Lovat and Douglas, ‘Dialogue’, p. 9.Google Scholar

13. Brian Douglas, Ways of Knowing in the Anglican Eucharistic Tradition: Ramifications for Theological Education (A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Newcastle, Australia, 2006), online at http://www.newcastle.edu.au/service/library/adt/public/adt-NNCU20070511.140205. Accessed 6 January, 2008.Google Scholar

14. John Macquarrie, A Guide to the Sacraments (London: SCM Press, 1997).Google Scholar

15. Rowan Williams, On Christian Theology (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000).Google Scholar

16. Douglas, Ways of Knowing and Anglican Eucharistic Theology.Google Scholar

17. Robert Doyle, ‘Word and sacrament in catholic and evangelical theology’, in I. Head (ed.), Who may celebrate? Boundaries of Anglican order (Sydney: The Standing Committee of General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia, 1996). A Second Publication of the Doctrine Commission of the General Synod on the Identity of the Eucharistic President or Administrant of Holy Communion..Google Scholar

18. Paul Zahl, A Short Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2000).Google Scholar

19. Douglas, Ways of Knowing.Google Scholar

20. Douglas, Ways of Knowing.Google Scholar

21. David Armstrong, Universals. An Opinionated Introduction (Boulder, Colorado: Westview, 1989), Nominalism and Realism. Universals and Scientific Realism, Volume 1 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), A World of States of Affairs (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997) and Truth and Truthmakers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).Google Scholar

22. Douglas, Ways of Knowing.Google Scholar

23. Douglas, Ways of Knowing.Google Scholar

24. Brian Douglas, Anglican Eucharistic Theology (A website of case studies developed as part of the research for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of Newcastle, 2006), online at http://web.mac.com/brian.douglas. Accessed 6 January, 2008.Google Scholar

25. Charles Hefling, ‘Introduction: Anglicans and Common Prayer’, in C. Hefling and C. Shattuck (eds.), The Oxford Guide to The Book of Common Prayer: A Worldwide Survey (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 1.Google Scholar

26. Ron Dowling, ‘The Eucharist’, in C. Hefling and C. Shattuck (eds.), The Oxford Guide to The Book of Common Prayer: A Worldwide Survey (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 467.Google Scholar

27. Dowling, ‘The Eucharist’, p. 467.Google Scholar

28. Macquarrie, Guide.Google Scholar

29. Zahl, Systematic.Google Scholar

30. Dowling, ‘The Eucharist’, p. 467.Google Scholar

31. A Prayer Book for Australia (APBA) (Sydney: Broughton Book, 1995).Google Scholar

32. APBA, pp. 128–140.Google Scholar

33. APBA, p. 128.Google Scholar

34. Book of Common Prayer (The Episcopal Church, New York: The Church Hymnal Corporation, 1979), p. 342.Google Scholar

35. An Anglican Prayer Book (The Anglican Church of Southern Africa, London: Collins, 1989), p. 123.Google Scholar

36. APBA, p. 129.Google Scholar

37. An Australian Prayer Book (AAPB) (Standing Committee of the General Synod of the Church of England in Australia, Sydney: Anglican Information Office Press, 1978).Google Scholar

38. APBA, p. 132.Google Scholar

39. The Holy Communion also called the Eucharist and the Lord’s Supper (Prepared by the Liturgical Commission of the Anglican Church of Australia for use under section 4 of the Constitution, Sydney: Broughton Books, 1993), p. 37.Google Scholar

40. Evan Burge, ‘A Prayer Book for Australia’ – A Watershed for Australian Anglicans, (The 1995 Austen Lecture, delivered at St Mary’s College, the University of Melbourne, 21 September, 1995), p. 6, Note 58.Google Scholar

41. The Holy Communion, p. 37.Google Scholar

42. APBA, p. 131–132.Google Scholar

43. David Silk, The Holy Eucharist: Alternative and Additional Texts for Use with the Orders of the Eucharist in AAPB and APBA (Authorized and commended by the Bishop of Ballarat under Article 4 of the Constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia, Ballarat: Anglican Diocese of Ballarat, 2nd edn, 2002), p. 8.Google Scholar

44. Gillian Varcoe, ‘Implication across the Communion – The Anglican Church in Australia’, in David Holeton (ed.), Our Thanks and Praise. The Eucharist in Anglicanism Today. Papers from the Fifth International Anglican Liturgical Consultation (Toronto, Ontario: Anglican Book Centre, 1998), p. 189.Google Scholar

45. David Richardson, ‘A Prayer Book for Australia: Historical Background’, in Gillian Varcoe (ed.), A Prayer Book for Australia. A Practical Commentary (Sydney: Dwyer, 1997), p. 75.Google Scholar

46. David Silk, Personal telephone conversation and email correspondence with Brian Douglas, regarding the introduction of a new and alternative Thanksgiving Prayer at General Synod, 1995, and the subsequent debate on, voting on and negotiation concerning the prayer, 28 May, 2003 and 24 July, 2003.Google Scholar

47. APBA, pp. 133–135.Google Scholar

48. APBA, p. 134.Google Scholar

49. APBA, p. 135.Google Scholar

50. APBA, p. 129.Google Scholar

51. APBA, p. 135.Google Scholar

52. Varcoe, ‘Implications across the Communion’, p. 189.Google Scholar

53. John Woodhouse, A Prayer Book for Australia and Reformed, Biblical Christianity. An Evangelical Response to A Prayer Book for Australia (Sydney: Anglican Church League, 1995), online at http://www.acl.asn.au. Accessed 6 January, 2008.Google Scholar

54. Robert Doyle, Expressing the Heart of the Gospel: A Review of the Three Orders of Holy Communion in A Prayer Book for Australia (Sydney: Anglican Church League, 1997), online at http://www.acl.asn.au. Accessed 6 January, 2008.Google Scholar

55. Sydney Doctrine Commission Report 45/95 A Prayer Book for Australia (Sydney: Diocese of Sydney Yearbook, 1997), pp. 450–473.Google Scholar

56. APBA, p. 135.Google Scholar

57. Sydney Doctrine Commission Report, p. 465.Google Scholar

58. Sydney Doctrine Commission Report, p. 467.Google Scholar

59. Richardson, ‘A Prayer Book for Australia: Historical Background’, p. 75.Google Scholar

60. Varcoe, ‘Implications across the Communion’, p. 189.Google Scholar

61. Richardson, ‘A Prayer Book for Australia: Historical Background’, p. 75.Google Scholar

62. Bill Lawton, Personal telephone conversation with Brian Douglas regarding General Synod, 1995 and the production of and debate over A Prayer Book for Australia, 27 and 29 May, 2003.Google Scholar

63. Burge, ‘A Prayer Book for Australia’ — A Watershed for Australian Anglicans, p. 6.Google Scholar

64. Richardson, ‘A Prayer Book for Australia: Historical Background’, p. 75.Google Scholar

65. Varcoe, ‘Implications across the Communion’, p. 189.Google Scholar

66. APBA, pp. 139-140.Google Scholar

67. APBA, p. 140.Google Scholar

68. APBA, p. 140.Google Scholar

69. APBA, pp. 167-180.Google Scholar

70. Sydney Doctrine Commission Report, p. 469.Google Scholar

71. Doyle, Expressing the Heart of the Gospel, p. 25-26.Google Scholar

72. Burge, ‘A Prayer Book for Australia — A Watershed for Australian Anglicans’, p. 3, Note 47.Google Scholar

73. David Silk, The Holy Eucharist: Alternative and Additional Texts for Use with the Orders of the Eucharist in AAPB and APBA (Authorized and commended by the Bishop of Ballarat under Article 4 of the Constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia, Ballarat: Anglican Diocese of Ballarat, 1st edn, 1995), p. 201.Google Scholar

74. Silk, The Holy Eucharist, 2nd edn, 2002, p. 7.Google Scholar

75. Burge, ‘A Prayer Book for Australia’ – A Watershed for Australian Anglicans.Google Scholar

76. Silk, The Holy Eucharist, 1st and 2nd edn.Google Scholar

77. Sydney Doctrine Commission Report and Doyle, Heart of the GospelGoogle Scholar

78. Even if these philosophical assumptions are not implicitly stated.Google Scholar

79. APBA, p. 176.Google Scholar

80. Receptionism holds that while the bread and wine continue to exist unchanged after consecration, the faithful communicant receives together with them the Body and Blood of Christ.Google Scholar

81. Burge, ‘A Prayer Book for Australia’ – A Watershed for Australian Anglicans, p. 3, Note 47.Google Scholar

82. Silk, The Holy Eucharist, 1st and 2nd edn.Google Scholar

83. Doyle, The Heart of the Gospel.Google Scholar

84. Silk, The Holy Eucharist, 1st edn (1995) and 2nd edn (2002).Google Scholar

85. Silk, The Holy Eucharist, 1st edn, p. 198.Google Scholar

86. Silk, The Holy Eucharist, 2nd edn, p. 8.Google Scholar

87. Silk, The Holy Eucharist, 2nd edn, p. 138.Google Scholar

88. Silk, The Holy Eucharist, 1st edn, p. 111.Google Scholar

89. Silk, The Holy Eucharist, 1st edn, p. 198.Google Scholar

90. Silk, The Holy Eucharist, 1st edn, p. 120.Google Scholar

91. Silk, The Holy Eucharist, 1st edn, p. 119.Google Scholar

92. In the 2nd edn of The Holy Eucharist, published in 2002.Google Scholar

93. Silk, The Holy Eucharist, 2nd edn, p. 8.Google Scholar

94. Sunday Services. A Liturgical Resource prepared by the Archbishop of Sydney’s Liturgical Panel (Sydney: Anglican Press Australia, 2001), p. 2, online at http://sundayservices.net. Accessed 6 January, 2008.Google Scholar

95. Douglas, Anglican Eucharistic Theology, case study 1.1 analyses Cranmer’s eucharistic theology and concludes that it is based on nominalist philosophical assumptions. Online at http://web.mac.com/brian.douglas. Accessed 6 January, 2008.Google Scholar

96. Sunday Services, p. 3.Google Scholar

97. Sunday Services, p. 55.Google Scholar

98. Sunday Services, p. 55.Google Scholar

99. Sunday Services, pp. 66–67.Google Scholar

100. Sunday Services, p. 67.Google Scholar

101. Sunday Services, p. 67.Google Scholar

102. Varcoe, ‘Implications across the Communion’, p. 189.Google Scholar

103. Silk, The Holy Eucharist, 1st and 2nd edn.Google Scholar

104. Sunday Services.Google Scholar

105. Varcoe, ‘Implications across the Communion’.Google Scholar

106. Lawton, Telephone conversation.Google Scholar

107. Habermas, Theory, Volume 1 and Theory, Volume 2.Google Scholar