Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Listening to Milbank: where does Anglicanism fit in?
This John Milbank lecture, delivered in Moscow earlier this year to an Orthodox audience, implicitly poses some important questions for Anglicanism. He begins to by setting the cultural and societal context for theology. The 'progressive' mode - shaped by 20th century liberal Protestant German theology - is, suggests Milbank, fundamentally stuck in the 1960s, failing to addressing a very changed context in which the relationship between state, market, society and church has radically altered.
A much more fruitful mode of theology, says Milbank, comes via creedal orthodoxy, nouvelle theologie and re-engagement with the Greek Patristic tradition, opening up the potential of a Church ironically better able to speak into a secular culture from the perspective of analogy, gift, beauty and imagination.
Towards the end of the lecture, Milbank interestingly notes the significance of the sacramentality of marriage to the Church's self-understanding. Notice also his reference to the importance of the exercise of the imagination by artists and literary figures in grasping the glory of Incarnation and Redemption.
Milbank is almost certainly the most influential and interesting theologian in the contemporary English-speaking world - and he's an Anglican. Anglicans should, then, be listening carefully to his insights and reflections. So what does the broad-sweep of theological trends given by Milbank in this lecture mean for Anglicanism? What does it mean that a significant portion of North Atlantic Anglicanism is still shaped by the passing paradigm of liberal Protestantism? What should be the theological focus for those seeking evangelical and catholic renewal within Anglicanism? And how can we as a Communion build on a school of theological renewal - Radical Orthodoxy - that offers much in service of the Church's mission and proclamation?
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3 comments:
BC,
Many thanks for addressing this.
As you well know, there's been some promising talk about the need for a new Oxford Movement. In order to get things moving in this direction, I wonder if we will need to pay careful attention to Milbank and Radical Orthodoxy - especially since Radical Orthodoxy has been described as a continuation of the OM, or at least a postmodern variant thereof.
Robb
Some excellent commentary re Milbank and other proponents of Radical Orthodoxy by R.R.Reno of First Things might be relevant to this posting. Here: http://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/01/the-radical-orthodoxy-project-42
I wonder if the only church that is not subject to the problems presented in Reno's review is the Eastern Orthodox Church because it preserves the particularity Christ and meaning in its historicity.
Brian
Robb/Brian, many thanks indeed for your comments.
Robb - yes, I do think we should be paying considerable attention to RO as a postmodern variant of the OM. (In fact - I will try to source this - but I am pretty sure Milbank has so described RO.) When you think about it, there is very little else around in robust theological terms within Anglicanism. The Progressives are stuck in the 60s - same tired old agenda - and the best of the Evangelicals are close-ish to cohereing with RO.
Brian - thanks for the Reno link. From memory it was pretty critical of RO? That said, I totally agree with your latter point. It is not a magisterium which keeps the Church Christocentric - it is the Tradition.
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