The Great Tradition - A Great Labor

Book excerpt: At a recent conference entitled Ancient Wisdom-Anglican Futures, theologians from across the denominational spectrum considered the question, What does it mean to inhabit the 'Great Tradition' authentically? As an expression of what C. S. Lewis called Deep Church, Anglicanism offers a test case of Tradition with a capital T in late modernity. Of particular interest is the highly dynamic transmission that has preserved a recognizable Anglican Way over the centuries. The process has been enlivened through constant negotiation and exchange with surprising convergences that have brought new life and direction. The contributors to this volume show how profitable and commodious (as Richard Hooker has said) the Great Tradition can be innurturing the worship, communal life, and mission of the Church. But it often demonstrates how hard it is to uphold the varied integrities of historic faith in the contemporary marketplace of religion and, especially, among evangelicals who continueto follow the Canterbury Trail.