WHAT A CATCH FOR NACC!

From No Anglican Covenant Coalition:

COALITION ANNOUNCES PROFESSOR DIARMAID MacCULLOCH AS PATRON

LONDON – The Revd Dr Lesley Crawley, Moderator of the No Anglican Covenant Coalition, has announced the appointment of Oxford University Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch, DD, as a Patron of the Coalition. Professor MacCulloch joins the Rt Revd Dr John Saxbee and the Rt Rev Dr Peter Selby, who were appointed last June.

“I’m thrilled that Professor MacCulloch has agreed to accept this appointment,” said Crawley. “As one of the acknowledged experts in the English Reformation, he has a very clear understanding of how the centralization of authority in the proposed Anglican Covenant is at odds with fundamental Anglican ecclesiology.”

“Anglicanism was born in the Reformation’s rejection of an unwarranted and unhistorical over-centralization of ecclesiastical authority,” according to Professor MacCulloch. “This pernicious proposal of a Covenant (an unhappy choice of name if you know anything about our Church’s history) ignores the Anglican Communion’s past, and seeks to gridlock the Anglican present at the cost of a truly Anglican future.” (My emphasis)

MacCulloch is Professor of the History of the Church, and Fellow of St Cross College, in the University of Oxford. He is also a Fellow of the British Academy and co-edits the Journal of Ecclesiastical History. He has written several books on Christian history and the English Reformation, including the award winning Thomas Cranmer: A Life and The Reformation: A History. His most recent book, A History of Christianity: the First Three Thousand Years, won the 2011 Cundill Prize. He devised and presented the BBC television series based on that work. MacCulloch received a knighthood earlier this year for his services to scholarship.

The No Anglican Covenant Coalition is an international group of Anglicans concerned about how the proposed Anglican Covenant will radically change the nature of the Anglican Communion.

The Revd Dr Lesley Crawley (England)
Dr Lionel Deimel (USA)
The Revd Malcolm French (Canada)
The Revd Lawrence Kimberley (New Zealand)
The Revd Canon Hugh Magee (Scotland)

In my book (which I have never written), MacCullough is a god in the pantheon of historians of Christianity. Several years ago, I read The Reformation by the author, and I am presently about two-thirds through MacCullough's Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. Both works are masterful, and I recommend them highly. Don't expect a dry historical account when you start to read. The books carried me rapidly along, even when I knew what happened next. MacCullough intersperses the history with interesting and sometimes amusing anecdotes about the characters that people the periods he describes.

MacCullough, who was not always well-treated by the Church of England, says:

I was brought up in the presence of the Bible, and I remember with affection what it was like to hold a dogmatic position on the statements of Christian belief. I would now describe myself as a candid friend of Christianity.
....

I was ordained Deacon. But, being a gay man, it was just impossible to proceed further, within the conditions of the Anglican set-up, because I was determined that I would make no bones about who I was; I was brought up to be truthful, and truth has always mattered to me. The Church couldn't cope and so we parted company. It was a miserable experience.

From Wikipedia.

The Church of England still has trouble coping with gay clergy who are open and honest about their sexual orientation and relationships.

Disclosure: I am a member of the No Anglican Covenant Coalition.

H/T to Ann Fontaine at The Lead.