Anglican theology has a serious public relations problem. For example, several years ago I looked at the reading list for theology for Ph.D. students at a leading divinity school in the USA. The only Anglicans before the twentieth century were Locke, Wesley and Newman (obviously important, but hardly representative!) and not a single Anglican was included in the twentieth century section, although a surprisingly large number were found in the contemporary readings (e.g. Rowan Williams, John Milbank and Kathryn Tanner). Clearly, for those who compiled the list, the mainstream of Anglican theology from the Reformation to around 1990 had nothing of doctrinal substance to contribute to the formation of their students. And it is indeed true that the intellectual energies of Anglican scholars have been focused primarily in biblical studies, patristics and liturgy rather than in systematic and constructive theology. Studies of Anglicanism have thus tended to be historical in nature and often apologetic in intent. This makes MacDougall's winsome volume of considerable use and interest, as he articulates the characteristic methods, sources and themes of Anglican theology in a ‘synthetic and constructive’ manner (p. 3). And while he, as a committed member of this neglected doctrinal tradition, presents it to an ecumenical audience more attuned to Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed approaches, he retains a welcome critical perspective on his material – which is appropriate, given that in his view a critical stance is typical of Anglican theology.
MacDougall is a lay theologian in the American Episcopal Church, with a doctorate from Fordham University (a Jesuit institution). Given that he eschews the typical historical approach, and given that unlike many American Episcopalian theologians he did not study in the United Kingdom, it is striking how thoroughly – indeed almost exclusively – English is his understanding of the Anglican theological enterprise. Again, however, this is not a nostalgic exercise in Anglophilia, but a measured assessment that both the roots and ongoing development of this particular tradition still exist normatively in the Church of England, among its theologians and doctrine committees, even if intellectual outposts have been established in North America, Australia and other former British colonies (The Scottish Episcopal Church is not mentioned). Drawing on a recent efflorescence of scholarship in Anglican studies – a fairly new discipline, partly inspired by both engagement with and reaction to Stephen Sykes's landmark The Integrity of Anglicanism (Mowbray, 1978) – MacDougall depends heavily on English scholars such as Paul Avis and Mark Chapman and the Irish William Marshall for the substance of his account. But while MacDougall celebrates the fact that Anglican voices in other parts of the world (including Africa and Asia) are beginning to make their distinctive contributions, he acknowledges the considerable extent to which the ‘mother church’ remains the fons et origo.
As the subtitle indicates, MacDougall construes Anglican theology under the category of wisdom rather than knowledge, as a form of ongoing discernment that is personally appropriated in the context of communal engagement rather than technical mastery or complete understanding. He explains that, unlike many other Christian doctrinal traditions, Anglican theology lacks a defining figure (such as Luther, Calvin or Wesley), is creedal rather than confessional in nature, does not claim any unique theological content not shared by other ecclesial communities, and rather than commitment to a specific method is better characterised as exhibiting a ‘particular sensibility, an ethos’ (p. 20). According to MacDougall, Anglicans seek as comprehensive a vision of the Christian faith as possible (hence the vaunted via media), draw primarily on Scripture – which he goes so far as to say is ultimately the only real source within Anglicanism for ‘speaking rightly of God and the things of God’ (p. 52) – but also rely on reason and tradition (especially the first five centuries of church history), and focus more on liturgical practice than doctrinal propositions (p. 65). These are fairly standard observations, but MacDougall explicates them clearly and in relation to common alternative approaches. More distinctively, although re-deploying some of the observations above, he proposes eight defining characteristics of Anglican theology as being (1) scriptural, (2) ‘ancient-modern’ (i.e. drawing on the patristic period for contemporary thought and practice), (3) non-confessional, (4) critical, (5) pastoral and practical, (6) liturgical, (7) incarnational and (8) occasional. Before delving more deeply into these characteristics, MacDougall says that ‘it is in examining the combination of them, the way that they interact…that allows one to perceive whether a typically Anglican theological imagination is at work or not’ (p. 82, emphasis added).
Construing scripture and the patristic period as the normative points of reference, the occasional nature of most Anglican doctrinal writings and a latitudinarian reluctance to rule decisively on disputed issues explain why most Anglican theologians have avoided anything resembling systematic theology in the Catholic and Protestant traditions. But MacDougall concludes by considering the surprising fact that in recent years several Anglicans have begun multi-volume systematic projects, specifically Sarah Coakley, Graham Ward, Katherine Sonderegger and Ralph McMichael, as well as previously noting the important doctrinal work of Sykes, Williams, Milbank and Tanner, along with David Ford. Hence, the appearance of such theologians in contemporary doctoral reading lists, their Anglican affiliation notwithstanding. The question MacDougall grapples with throughout is whether their systematic work is ‘Anglican theology’ or ‘theology written by Anglicans’ (see pp. 80 and 139), and he views the extent to which they exemplify the eight characteristics listed above as providing the respective answers.
Obviously, all of these claims deserve closer scrutiny, and there were places where I wanted to nuance or reframe MacDougall's account. But overall I greatly appreciated this text and highly recommend it as a valuable introduction to the contested and complicated nature of Anglican theology.
