Holding together: evangelicals, catholics and Mary

The CoE General Synod speech of Christopher Cocksworth, Bishop of Coventry, on the ARCIC report Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ offers an insightful, balanced assessment of the report from an evangelical Anglican perspective.  +Coventry probably spoke for most Anglicans when he notes:

Evangelical theology would be entitled to say that it has more to give the re-receiving of Mary by others than is – perhaps - allowed by the Report. One, among several such gifts of evangelical theology, is a radical stress on the vicarious humanity of Christ in which our human nature is reshaped by his learning of obedience through suffering (Hebrews 5. 8-10), his saying ‘yes’ to God and ‘yes’ to the cross (Hebrews 10. 5-10), his ascension to heaven as the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 2.10; 12.2). Here, surely ARCIC is deficient when it says of Mary that hers is ‘the fullest human example of the life of grace’.

Even catholicity and covenant was slightly unnerved by such wording in the Seattle Statement.  That said, +Coventry does acknowledge that the Statement also challenges those Anglicans in the evangelical tradition:

For those formed in the evangelical tradition of the Church, there is much here to help us to re-receive Mary and to acknowledge that, according to Scripture, she is the first to be called blessed in the gospel story. We should have no hesitation in joining the Reformers to honour her relationship with Jesus and to celebrate her saving faith in God’s work through Christ. It is an evangelical truth that there is no Jesus without Mary.

This is, perhaps, the Seattle Statement's most profound challenge to contemporary Anglicanism, mindful of the strength of the evangelical tradition in the Global South and in most of the renewal movements in the North (e.g. Alpha).  Proclaiming the Incarnation without significant reference to her who all generations call blessed - the one described by Cranmer as "a pure virgin", while the 39 Articles proclaim that the Eternal Word "took Man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin, of her substance" - falls far short of Scripture, the Creeds and the Augustinian reverence for the Blessed Virgin seen in the magisterial Reformation.

The Anglican vocation to live out the catholic tradition in light of the insights of the Reformation also allows us to contribute meaningfully to the ARCIC call for a "re-reception" of Mary's place in the narrative of salvation:

In terms of re-receiving our understanding of Mary, there is a gift that Anglicanism itself has to offer the Roman Catholic Church that is rather understated in the Report. And that is Anglicanism’s capacity to deal with the endemic tensions between catholic and evangelical theology by identifying the scriptural heart of the matter which unites both traditions, securing agreement on that ‘non-negotiable’, and then allowing informed theological speculation on

its implications, while not requiring belief in any matter which is not itself required by scripture.

Hence, over Mary, as Anglicans we are bound to affirm her as Theotokos - bearer and mother of God incarnate - because this can be demonstrated from Scripture (and that’s because the gospel relies upon it). At the same time we are free to explore the full implications of her being Theotokos and to hold to them personally and devoutly. But we are not permitted to insist on their acceptance by others as articles of faith unless they can be proved by Holy Scripture.  Agreement in essentials, respect and liberty in the rest, is an important principle of Church life that Anglicanism should be confident about contributing to the whole ecumenical endeavour.

Cocksworth has, of course, explored this dynamic more fully in his Holding Together: Gospel, Church and Spirit (one of the titles nominated for this year's Michael Ramsay prize).  It is here that we do see the Anglican vocation at its most glorious, even if the reality often falls painfully short of this.  As the Communion continues to reflect on the Seattle Statement, the evangelical and catholic traditions are surely called to pray and study together in light of the mystery that God has a mother, seeking to share in a common witness to the God who took flesh of Blessed Mary.