Editor’s Note: The Rev. Dr. Stephen Noll, now a board member of Anglican Compass, also served from 2015 to 2020 as the Convener of the GAFCON Task Force on Women in the Episcopate. In 2017, this Task Force issued a recommendation for a moratorium on the consecration of women bishops. In this article, we share Dr. Noll’s 2019 essay…
The Bishops’ Conclave: A Rookie Anglican Guide
What is a conclave? Put simply, a conclave is a private meeting of bishops gathered to select a new archbishop or for other important business. The conclave’s Biblical prototype is the apostles’ gathering, on the first Easter evening, behind a locked door. Theologically, a conclave puts emphasis on Christ as the key. Etymology of the…
What is Apostolic Succession, Anyway?
What does it mean be in a church that had an unbroken line of succession to the first Apostles, namely to Peter and finally, to Jesus Christ?
Episcopal Polity: A Rookie Anglican Guide
Authority isn’t a bad word Protestants, especially Western Protestants from democratic countries, who look at the Anglican Church from the outside will find a method of leadership that is quite foreign and perhaps distasteful. If we have been set free by Christ, they may think, why should we let some man in a pointy hat…
