JERUSALEM: Eastern and Western Theological Traditions Come Together at GAFCON

By David W. Virtue in Jerusalem
www.virtueonline.org
6/21/2008

In Jerusalem, a senior theological advisor to the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) said that Western and Eastern theological traditions have united to form a single cohesive understanding of the gospel that addresses cultural differences.

Canon Dr. Vinay Samuel told a pre-GAFCON gathering of theologians and leaders that Anglican theology is part of the western theological tradition.

"The churches planted by Anglican missions were nurtured in that tradition. They have made it their own and have contributed to it by bringing their distinctive cultural perspective and approaches.

"What we in the workshops of the theological resource teams of GAFCON have experienced is the blending of the gifts from the North and the South that they bring to the communion as they share and listen to each other in humility and work to identify the common ground of faith.

"Africans contributed to the Early Church Fathers. This theological leadership is drawn from a truly international group of Anglicans. Global North theologians come from seminaries, which are well resourced. To say that the Global South have the numbers, but not necessarily the intellectual leadership is untrue. The bulk of the theological resource team here are from the Global South most of whom have been trained in the major seminaries and intellectual institutions in the West."

A senior British clergyman responding to the publication of "The Way, The Truth and the Life", released here on Friday, said this document renders the Windsor Report "irrelevant."

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