ACC 15 acclaims Bible project

The Anglican Consultative Council, meeting in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand praises the Bible project:

Jaded cynics may try to suggest that the Anglican Communion is divided over the Bible.

Well, there’s no need to buy into that notion any longer.

After three and half years of worldwide research, the Bible in the Life of the Church project has found that Anglicans around the globe share “a high common ground” over the essential place and use of the Bible in Anglican life.

….

The Bible in the Life of the Church project – which was led by New Zealand’s Archbishop David Moxon – today delivered its report, entitled: Deep Engagement, Fresh Discovery , to the ACC.

And as far as Archbishop David is concerned, he’s seen incontrovertible proof that Anglicans “can gather around the Bible – and around Christ, who is the Living Word, in our diversity.

“Because we believe in Scripture, tradition and reason – in that order.”

….

Deep Engagement, Fresh Discovery identifies 10 themes and seven principles (eg: ‘Principle 1 – Christ is the living Word of God.’) for its use.

And from the reports of regional groups which fed into the project, four broad conclusions have been drawn:

1. Across the Communion “there is clear evidence of the impact made on the lives of our communities and individuals by engaging with Scripture.”

The people who took part in that regional project, for example, found Scripture speaking to them in ways they hadn’t experienced before.

2. Across the Communion, there is also “a wonderful diversity of ways of what ‘engaging with and interpreting the Scripture’ looks like.”

3. Across the Communion, it’s clear that the context in which the engagement takes place generates further diversity in the approach to and application of the Scripture.

4. Across the Communion there is also evidence of ‘gaps’ between what might be called the ‘received wisdom’ of the Church (about Scripture) … and what actually happens in practice.

Full report is here.

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