When individuals are examined
for ordination in The Episcopal Church, what methods of studying the Bible are
they expected to utilize? "Current biblical scholarship ... is concerned to
determine the given literary genre of a biblical book or most often a given
section of it (form criticism). Further, it may be possible to discover how
this genre was handed down (transmission history), and came to be incorporated
by a collector or editor (redaction criticism) into a continuous narrative, and
ultimately became part of a written document (literary criticism). The methods
do not exclude one another; in fact, they are mutually complementary. But they
are not merely methods; they are not intellectual exercises for an elite. Every
perceptive reader of the Bible can profit from the several approaches.
...readers will find Bible reading more challenging, as well as more
informative, if they study the text along these lines." [from the Summary in
"Modern Approaches to Biblical Study," The New Oxford Annotated Bible
(1991), pp. 391 and 392] Moreover, candidates for ordination, other laypersons,
and clergy may rely on current Bible commentaries and annotations to the
biblical texts prepared by specialists in the relevant languages, history, and
other analytical resources. After the study of a passage is
completed (its historical and literary context probed), one may then
reflect on an informed meaning of the text for one's life and prayers, or
perhaps prepare a sermon.
Faithful and informed
Episcopalians do not read the Holy Scriptures simplistically and entirely as
literal history, science, or as a series of absolute mandates for behavior. The
Episcopal Church is not a fundamentalist Church "that affirms the absolute and
unerring authority of the Bible, rules out a scientific or critical
[i.e., analytical] study of the scriptures, denies the theory of
evolution, and holds that alternate religious views within Christianity or
outside are false." [from "Fundamentalism," The HarperCollins Dictionary of
Religion (1995), p. 369] In addition to the conscientious study of the
Bible, Episcopalians also draw upon reason, tradition, and the ongoing
corporate experience of the Church as we "continue to grow in His love and
service."
Upholding Scripture as
primary and honoring tradition, the Anglican Way is for individuals to
reason carefully, proceed prayerfully, and agree to differ - all within a
community of faith that continually evolves in doctrinal and moral wisdom. A
perennial difficulty for some lay and ordained communicants is an unwillingness
to respect - and even celebrate - informed, diverse understandings of the
Anglican/Episcopal heritage. For committed Episcopalians, fundamental unity
is experienced not in intellectual agreement, but in our common Baptism and
corporate acts of worship, particularly the Holy Eucharist.