From Ekklesia-
On 3 November 2010, Anglicans commemorate the 410th anniversary of the death of Richard Hooker. Many are also using the occasion to launch a campaign (http://noanglicancovenant.org/) against a proposed Anglican Covenant which they believe could stifle or deny the originating gifts he brought to Anglicanism.
My friend and colleague Savitri Hensman has today penned a powerful article (Anglican Covenant ignores the problem of evil) pointing out the considerable dangers involved in the abuse of biblical Covenantal language. This should be about the freely entered-into communion of people before God, not an attempt to win political struggles within an institution by subjecting the internal life of member churches (that need to be guided by the Spirit and communal Christian discernment and practice), to a bureaucratic body aimed at quashing variety, dissent or (heaven forfend!) "embarrassment".
I have personal interests in all this; and not just as an active member of the Anglican Church for nearly 38 years (into which I was voluntarily confirmed aged 15), though that is important, too.
For several years I lived in Heavitree in Exeter, Devon, where Richard Hooker was born, sometime around Easter Sunday, in 1554. There is a statue in his honour outside the Cathedral there, set in the parish where I worshipped for five years.
Two years ago I also edited a book that appeared in time for the Lambeth Conference, Fear or Freedom? Why a warring church must change, which has a Preface by Desmond Tutu and was published by Shoving Leopard in association with Ekklesia.
More here-
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/13476
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