RE: EPISCOPALIAN WARS

Lots of very thoughtful and insightful responses so far to “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” in the October issue. I mean, where else but here can you find intelligent, well-written analysis of the overlap between Episcopalians and Baptists in the context of a visit to Christ Church in Plano? Eat your heart out, Bible Girl. Now read this from a church history-minded FBvian:

I’m one of those scary Virtue Online readers. The way I happened onto your email address is FrontBurner, which I also read somewhat regularly.

As a Reformed Episcopalian (which places me on the theologically conservative side of the spectrum), I have a different perspective on these issues from yours. But let me say that I think you did a pretty good job overall. Your article was certainly more balanced than the many tendentious pieces (in both directions) that I’ve read.

There is one point where I have a bone to pick. With respect to Christ Church, Plano, your wrote: “Clearly, the people who worship here have mistaken their denominations. If not Southern Baptists by another name, surely they belong more to Joel Osteen or T.D. Jakes.”

Whether that characterization is right depends on what criteria you use and how broad your historical focus is. Historically, the Episcopal church, especially in the South, was a place where Protestant theological orthodoxy and social respectability sat in the same pew. Its primary distinctives were liturgical, not theological.

So I see the congregation of Christ Church, Plano as an exact continuation of the theologically conservative, liturgy-loving suburbanites who filled the pews of many Episcopal churches 40 or 50 years ago. (The main difference is that most people dress much more casually today.) From this perspective, they haven’t mistaken their denominations at all. Said another way, there’s a long tradition within the Episcopal church of parishes full of people whose beliefs aren’t too different from those of Southern Baptists, and who are Episcopalians instead of some other brand of Protestant because they strongly prefer prayer-book worship.

I understand, of course, that if you take the Episcopal church of the last 10 years as the frame of reference, the people at Christ Church are not the norm. My point in writing is to argue that the broader historical context is important to be able to understand why the Christ Church, Plano types see themselves as thoroughly, classically Episcopalian and hence would find the suggestion that they have mistaken their denominations to be quite odd.