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Foreword by Phyllis Tickle |
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The Synoptic Gospels: A Journey Into the Kingdom Volume II by Edward L. Bleynat, Jr. |
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As an Episcopalian of well over fifty years standing, I am more than passingly aware of the problems and limitations which presently besiege Anglicanism in particular and the church in general. Some of those difficulties simply have to do with the fact that human organizations, even those designed to serve divine purposes, are chronically susceptible to the caprices and particularities of human personalities wherever they happen to work in concert. Some of the difficulties, on the other hand, (and they are the ones that interest me more) have to do with the fact that doctrine and the interpretation of scripture which undergirds it are dynamic in character. By definition, they are constantly subject to both scrutiny and application from good, devout folk who are living out their faith in differing times, places, and contexts. Protestantism, however, was founded upon, and coalesced around, the Reformation’s battle cry of “Scriptura sola, sola Scriptura!” “Scripture only, and only Scripture.” As a result, to the world outside the faith, Protestantism’s most visible contribution to human history often seems to be the divisiveness and denominationalism that have resulted from so pre-Enlightenment a stance. We Anglicans, while we proudly lay claim to being Christianity’s “middle of the road Protestants,” are in reality little different from our fellows in our ability to scrap and wrangle fiercely over beliefs and creeds and the niceties of biblical interpretation upon which they both rest for authority. Where we do differ, though, is in our insistence upon study . . . informed, candid, no-holds-barred, but free study . . . study with complete impunity . . . of both Holy Writ and the scholarship that surrounds it. Where we also differ from our fellow Protestants is upon our insistence that Scripture is but one part of a triad upon which faith and practice must rest. We speak of that triad as “Hooker’s stool” or “the three-legged stool,” by which expression we reference the metaphor of Anglicanism’s first great theologian, Richard Hooker. Hooker argued that authority must rest equally in Scripture, Reason, and Tradition. Should the church or even an individual believer privilege one of the three to the detriment or expense of the others, the stool of sound faith and practice would either tilt or topple completely, like any wooden stool deprived of one of its legs. The system is admirable. It has also served both Anglicanism and the larger church well; for Anglicanism’s insistence upon informed balance and godly dialog has permeated the church’s conversation across many denominational lines. But to make the system work—to make the stool hold steady and balanced upon three sound legs—there must be a constant updating and flow of books, commentaries, and materials that make scholarship accessible . . . and not just “accessible” in the usual or academic sense of that word; for as any good Episcopalian will tell you, such materials must also be constructed within the Anglican tradition of impunity, accuracy, and free inquiry. By the grace of God, from era to era and frequently just as the need itself seems to bubble to the surface of our consciousness, there has always emerged a scholar/writer who can juxtapose with exquisite carefulness what we have received by tradition with what we are receiving by proximity. There has emerged that scholar/writer who can render us a new yet tradition-buttressed way to pick up today’s faith like a garment of glory in order all the better to hand it on to those who follow us . . . a garment mended in places, adjusted to new pleats and tucks in places, elaborated to new beauty in others, but a garment none the less of stout cloth and noble heritage. Edward L. Bleynat, Jr. is such a writer/scholar for our time; and The Synoptic Gospels: A Journey Into the Kingdom is such a book. Let us all—Protestant, Catholic, or Anglican—be grateful. —Phyllis Tickle |
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