Sewanee: School of Theology Theses 2017
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Item The Episcopal Church and the Hope of Communion(University of the South, 2017-07) Wright, Carl WalterThis thesis suggests that, by virtue of its history and polity, The Episcopal Church in the United States of America (TEC) is uniquely positioned to advance the role and reach of the worldwide Anglican Communion. While the Episcopal Church began its life as a seventeenth century colonial outpost of the Church of England, over time, out of necessity, it began to organize and govern itself quite differently from the "mother church." Yet, in spite of the unique polity it developed, TEC remained loyal to Anglicanism in the seventeenth century; it vigorously pursued new ways to strengthen its relationship with the Church of England in the nineteenth century; and it was instrumental in making the Anglican Communion a global church in the twentieth century. Therefore this thesis will argue that because The Episcopal Church has been a prominent leader in the Communion and a catalyst for its expansion, this role need not be relinquished. Instead, The Episcopal Church might well be indispensable to the Communion's future.Item SLOUCHING TOWARDS BETHLEHEM: HOW THE BIBLICAL BOOK OF JOB ILLUMINATES THE WORK OF FLANNERY O’CONNOR(University of the South, 2017-05) Stewart-Hassman, CoreyAmerican author Flannery O’Connor, a devout Roman Catholic, made no attempt to disguise the theological nature of her work. Her short stories and novels contained numerous lessons about faith, God, and human failing. Yet O’Connor’s theological message was often overshadowed by her use of the “grotesque,” as well as absurd coincidences, dramatic action, and frequent reversals of fortune. To what end did O’Connor employ these things? Did she do so simply in service to the narrative, or was there, perhaps, a greater agenda at work? This paper will argue that O’Connor used coincidence, violence, dramatic action, and reversals of fortune to parallel the biblical text of the Book of Job, in order to convey a specific lesson about the nature of grace. The first task of the paper is to delineate the various ways the Job text has been understood (as well as misunderstood) in the centuries since its initial circulation, and to show how the Job text subverts the Deuteronomic understanding of faith that was prevalent during the redaction of large portions of the Old Testament. Then, by examining five of O’Connor’s short stories (“A Good Man is Hard to Find,” “The Artificial Nigger,” “The Enduring Chill,” “Everything that Rises Must Converge,” and “Revelation”), this paper will identify three distinct elements shared by the Job text and the O’Connor stories: first, that the characters in both the Job text and the O’Connor stories exist within cultures that operate on the honor/shame model, the basics of which will be explained; second, that O’Connor’s use of hyperbolic situations of duress mimic the legendary suffering of the biblical Job; and third, that the grace of God becomes active, and apparent, as a direct result of the duress suffered by O’Connor’s protagonists, much as it does in the story of the biblical Job. Following the examination of the Job text and the O’Connor short stories, this paper will conclude that understanding the biblical book of Job in its original context illuminates the work of Flannery O’Connor, allowing the author’s message about grace to be more readily understood by readers.Item PERCY DEARMER REVISITED: DISCERNING AUTHENTICALLY ANGLICAN LITURGY IN A MULTICULTURAL, ECUMENCIAL, 21ST CENTURGY CONTEXT(University of the South, 2017-05-11) Cramer, Jared C.As the worship of The Episcopal Church stands on the cusp of a new period of renewal and innovation, important questions must be explored about what constitutes Anglican liturgy in today’s multicultural and ecumenical context. No longer will simply doing what we have always done (or coming up with new exciting ideas) suffice to enrich the people of God. The time is instead ripe for a reclamation of the work and ideals of Percy Dearmer, noted liturgical scholar from the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century. Though his work is often dismissed as “British Museum Religion,” the truth is that his “English Use” approach to liturgy contributed significantly to the growing Liturgical Movement in the Church of England. Further, the ideals of his work—often misunderstood—stand the test of time and offer a word of encouragement and, at times, correction, to the liturgical tendencies of our own time. Authentically Anglican liturgy is still a goal worth pursuing—it just likely is a much more difficult one that the setting up of riddle posts and the wearing of amices. By getting to the heart of Dearmer’s work, and identifying the ten ideals he used over and over again for Anglican liturgy, we will find our own approaches to worship enlivened and invited into greater truth, faithfulness, and beauty.Item Transforming Communities: The formation of monastic communities in the 19th Century And the formation and impact of Episcopal Service Corps houses in the 21st Century(University of the South, 2017-05-11) Cobb, David C.One of the persistent patterns in Church History has been the emergence, development, and, usually, the decline of intentional communities of a monastic nature. In the 19th century Episcopal Church, against a good deal of suspicion and despite some direct opposition, several orders for men and women, came into being. Some lasted just for a time and others continue to the present. In the late 20th century and as the 21st century began, another pattern of intentional communities emerged in the Episcopal Church as the Episcopal Service Corps began as isolated programs and then grew in numbers. These two institutions work from different lengths of commitment, monastic houses assume a life-time commitment and the Service Corps is for a year or so. Still there are similar themes as both attempt to provide a community that is focused, in different measure, on prayer and service. Both, with different approaches, involve some experience of simplicity of life if not a commitment to poverty. There are in a few places direct connections between the religious orders and the work of deaconesses with the Episcopal Service Corps, and in a few instances, Interns have gone on to explore a vocation to monastic life. This study will examine the story of four communities that arose during the 19th century. Two of them begin as efforts to provide local formation for clergy and a base from which missioners could go out to serve isolated and unchurched areas. One fails, largely because of opposition and suspicion of Romanizing tendency in its founder which was either confirmed or caused his move to the Roman Church; one goes on to become an seminary continuing to serve the Church. The Order of the Holy Cross never focused on offering formation for priests, but began with a mission in New York’s tenements; its first instigator wrote of the likelihood that failures would precede an enduring foundation. The story of Holy Cross is one of transformation, but his comment is borne out in the history of other orders. The Sisterhood of St Mary’s grows out of an attempt to form a community based solely on mutual love and compelling mission; the lack of structure for development and change led to a new beginning which gave rise to St Mary’s. They continue and now offer a connection between their own life under vows and internship program that shares their life. In the 20th and continuing in the 21st Century, the Episcopal Service Corps arose as one of many programs offering young adults a year or more of intentional community and service. It shared with the earlier monastic revival a desire to be engaged in work that responded to human need and to provide time and structure for spiritual formation. In addition, it drew from the monastic tradition a pattern of shared resources and, for at least a time, an experience of limited consumption. The study will present an account of several programs, their development and particular mission; it concludes with reflections from a number of current and former participants in the Episcopal Service Corps. The Christian life has always carried the memory of a deeply communal experience as the Acts of the Apostles’ reminds us in the days after Pentecost when as they “continued in the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread and in the prayers”, they also had all things in common. There is a challenge to following Christ that is never quite edited out of the Gospel even in the most prosperous of congregations, “sell all that you have, and come, follow me”. If monastic communities have provided the larger Church with an image of a few who take up that memory and bring it to fruition across a lifetime and in an on-going community, the intentional communities that are formed around the model of Episcopal Service Corps makes it real in a number of people's lives for a period of time. That time might be shorter or longer for the individual or for the hosting community as programs emerge, flourish, and then come to an end. What continues is the impact the experience has on those who participate and on the larger Church that can be inspired to ask something more of itself. For those who take it up for a lifetime, or at a particular juncture in their life, there is grace to be found and that race will, necessarily reach beyond themselves. Rowan Williams, in a lecture reflecting on his perspective of the impact Augustine’s monastic community had during his 6th century mission to Britain, Williams wrote that the “converting power of poverty and vulnerability, of silence and praise, of labour and fidelity.. .” shines in the lives of those who give themselves- and together give to the world a sign of God’s presence and gives to the Church both challenge and encouragement. In every age and in whatever state the Church finds itself, there is the constant need for Christians to learn to live together, to learn to live in generosity, and to pray deeply and honestly. The monastics teach it their way, those who engage newly formed intentional communities will as well. Both in their challenge to a faith that is easily incorporated into ordinary patterns of consumption and competition. Williams goes on to say: “ Monasticism is in this regard a significant defense against the absorption of the newness of the Gospel into the familiarity of this or that cultural environment; and in this way, monasticism is a necessary part of any truly theological strategy of mission” An intern answered the question, “What do you think the impact of the Episcopal Service Corps” is on the Episcopal Church with an emphatic, “it is the lifeblood”. For a time during a Service Corps Year, or for a life time under vows, life in community, offered in service and carried out in intentional simplicity of life expresses the challenge and the invitation that the Gospel poses. The Church’s lifeblood is the converted life shaped in community. When people are drawn into the “the Apostles’ Teaching and fellowship, the breaking of the bread and the prayers”, there is an impact within and beyond the Church. For the present moment, one of the most obvious places where that impact is found is the intentional communities of the Episcopal Service Corps, and the impact will shape the Episcopal Church for decades.Item THE CONTINUING CRISIS OF MINISTRY: A HISTORY OF CHANGES TO TITLE III CANONS FOR EVALUATION, EDUCATION AND FORMATION OF PRESBYTERS IN THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH 1967 to 1979(University of the South, 2017-05-11) Dunagan, Katherine KellyThis project is a historical review of changes by General Convention to canons within Title III of the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church from 1967 to 1979. Chapter One reviews the background to the ordination of presbyters in the Episcopal Church through a brief historical survey emphasizing three eras: early American, 1860-1960 and the 1960s. Chapter Two identifies General Convention changes to Title III canon law during the 1970s which affected the process for ordination to the priesthood. This is done under the headings of four areas: Access to Ordination; Evaluation of Postulants; Education of Candidates; and Formation of Presbyters. Chapter Three examines the history of access to ordination for three groups: women; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) persons; and African Americans. Chapter Three includes a review of the development of commissions on ministry; education of candidates in light of the famous Pusey Report; the General Ordination Examination; and the issues of professional training and formation of presbyters. Chapter Four discusses situational challenges that have affected access to ordination including divorce, substance abuse, aspirants ordained in anther denomination and the problem of sequential ordination. Chapter Five presents a concluding argument that this evolution of canonical requirements has left the Episcopal Church with a lack of agreement between seminaries and diocesan bishops, commissions on ministry and standing committees regarding the spiritual, professional and intellectual qualities of a presbyter and outlines solutions including the recommendation of a training for these diocesan bodies. A final conclusion follows.
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