We live in an age of soundbites and headlines. Christians tend to ask, \u2018Are you a Catholic?\u2019 or \u2018Are you an Evangelical?\u2019 without being specific about these terms. They may prefer one style of worship to another, or use various slogans to signal \u2018group loyalty\u2019; but they aren\u2019t always able to argue their position theologically. But theology is important. It is not an \u2018extra\u2019 for those who happen to like it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Society of the Faith fulfils its aims<\/a> through publications and grants. The 1947 report Catholicity<\/em> formed the basis of a Symposium, the first in a series of study days on theological issues of major concern to the Society and the contemporary Church. The papers from that Symposium<\/a> are presented here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also republish the full text of the 1947 Report – Catholicity: A Study in the Conflict of Christian Traditions in the West<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why this Symposium, and why now?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Society of the Faith believes that \u2018catholicity\u2019 is essential to the life and health of the Church. By \u2018catholicity\u2019, we mean \u2018the full works\u2019 \u2013 the Christian faith in its fullness, all its richness and depth \u2013 a faith both exciting and challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \nBut\n\u2018embracing the full works\u2019 doesn\u2019t imply that all questions\nhave long since been settled, and that all Christians need to do is\nto discover \u2018what the Church says\u2019. The Church has constantly debated the meaning and implications of the Gospel ever since the time of Jesus. Doctrines have grown, and multiplied, and been\ngiven fresh relevance time and time again. Practices \u2013 the\norganisation of Christian life, the structures of the Church \u2013 have\nbeen debated, and reformed, and revitalised, and reformed again. It\nis this whole panoply of thinking and doing which, as Catholic\nAnglicans, we can learn from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And we cannot do this alone. Christian discipleship is never a solitary enterprise. I can only \u2018be a Christian\u2019 in community with other Christians, in dialogue with other Christians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These papers are offered to the Church in the hope that they might help to maintain the traditional balance between Catholic and Evangelical perspectives within Anglicanism, at a time when some feel that balance is in danger of being lost. We do not suggest that we should focus on the past. We want to move into the future, equipped by our wonderful heritage to meet the challenges that tomorrow will bring. But the future can never be a repetition of the past. We want to follow our Lord\u2019s advice, and stay awake. We believe that constant engagement with, and deep immersion in, \u2018the whole works\u2019 \u2013 with Catholicity \u2013 is the best tool in our armoury. And this we hope to do through more such study days in due course, the contents of which will also be published on this site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Revd Canon Robert Gage<\/em> We live in an age of soundbites and headlines. Christians tend to ask, \u2018Are you a Catholic?\u2019 or \u2018Are you an Evangelical?\u2019 without being specific about these terms. They may prefer one style of worship to another, or use various slogans to signal \u2018group loyalty\u2019; but they aren\u2019t always able to argue their position theologically. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6","page","type-page","status-publish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catholicity.societyofthefaith.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catholicity.societyofthefaith.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catholicity.societyofthefaith.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catholicity.societyofthefaith.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catholicity.societyofthefaith.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/catholicity.societyofthefaith.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219,"href":"https:\/\/catholicity.societyofthefaith.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6\/revisions\/219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catholicity.societyofthefaith.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Vice-Principal, the Society of the Faith<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"