Academic Life ~ Tutu Center Conferences ~ Anglican Covenant Conference, April 2008
Anglican Covenant Conference, April 2008
An Anglican Covenant: Divisive or Reconciling? Sponsored by General Seminary, seminaries of the Episcopal Church, and seminaries of the Anglican Church of Canada at the Desmond Tutu Center, April 10-12, 2008
An Anglican Covenant has been proposed as a way to resolve conflicts and clarify polity in the Anglican Communion, especially amid the current sexuality controversy. Several drafts have been circulated, and comment was invited in preparation for the July 2008 Lambeth Conference.
The conference brought major international Anglican figures together with 16 faculty from North American seminaries to engage the issues raised by an Anglican Covenant. Speakers of widely divergent views engaged covenant issues from the perspectives of scripture, history, theology, liturgy, pastoral practice, and mission. 24 students from the seminaries served on panels that offered responses to keynote addresses and faculty panel presentations as preludes to wide-ranging plenary discussions.
Attendees came from Australia, Jerusalem and the Caribbean as well as from parishes and dioceses throughout the United States and Canada. A number of Episcopal Church bishops attended in preparation for Lambeth 2008. Convening the conference were the Rev. Dr. Titus Presler, Sub-Dean and Professor of Mission and World Christianity, and the Rev. Canon Dr. J. Robert Wright, Professor of Ecclesiastical History.
The following materials from the conference are available:
- News Report from General Seminary
- Conference Program Booklet
- Audio and Full Texts of Conference Papers (3 keynotes and 16 faculty presentations) these appear below
- Selected Student Responses
- News Report from Episcopal Life
- News Report from Living Church
- News Report from Christian Century
- January 2008 News Release from General Seminary: Anglican Covenant Conference to be held at Desmond Tutu Center, April 10-12 (January 24, 2008)
- Pictures from the Conference
Audio and Full Texts of Conference Papers (3 keynotes and 16 faculty presentations)
First Keynote Address:
The Case for an Anglican Covenant the Most Rev. Drexel Gomez, Archbishop of the West Indies. mp3 file - pdf file
First Panel:
The Kenotic Role of Leadership in a Covenanted Relationship, the Very Rev. Joseph Britton, Berkeley Divinity School at Yale. mp3 file - pdf file
The Covenant as a Sign of Problems with Authority, The Rev. Dr. Ellen Wondra Seabury-Western Theological Seminary. mp3 file - pdf file
A Fine Thing, but is it Anglican?, The Rev. Canon Dr. David Neelands , Trinity College, University of Toronto. mp3 file - pdf file
Whose Covenant? The Anglican Covenant, the People of God and History from Below, Dr. Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski Church Divinity School of the Pacific. mp3 file - pdf file
Second Keynote Address:
cov-e-nant n 1. a solemn agreement . . . A ‘global south’ perspective on Anglicans, solemnity and agreement, Canon Dr. Jenny Plane Te Paa, St. John’s Theological College, Auckland. mp3 file - pdf file
Second Panel:
St. Andrew’s Covenant: A Conversation in Process, The Rev. Dr. A. Katharine Grieb, Virginia Theological Seminary. mp3 file - text not available
The Proposed Anglican Covenant: Instrument of Oppression and Exclusion or Instrument of Inclusion and Justice?, The Rev. Dr. Leander Harding, Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry. mp3 file - pdf file
The Covenant, the Quadrilateral, and Balance, The Rev. Dr. Robert Hughes, School of Theology, University of the South. mp3 file - pdf file
The Consitutionality of an Anglican Covenant, The Rt. Rev. Joe Morris Doss, President, At the Threshold. mp3 file - pdf file
Third Panel:
The Lambeth Conference 2008 and the Anglican Covenant: Juridical or Missiological Imperatives?, The Rev. Dr. Ian Douglas, Episcopal Divinity School. mp3 file - pdf file
Communion, Federation, or Sect?, The Very Rev. Dr. John Kevern, Bexley Hall. mp3 file - pdf file
Vernacular Particularity vs. Global Universalism: A Pivotal Issue for the Anglican Covenant, The Rev. Dr. Richard Leggett, Vancouver School of Theology. mp3 file - pdf file
The Covenant and Ecumenical Opportunity, The Rev. Canon Dr. J. Robert Wright, read by the Rev. Dr. Ellen Sloan, Chaplain, General Theological Seminary. mp3 file - pdf file
Fourth Panel:
Forbearance and Reconciliation: An Anglican Covenant in a Season of Judgment, The Rev. Dr. Christopher Seitz, Wycliffe College. - not available
Covenant: Ecclesiological Implications of a Latent Metaphor, The Rev. Canon Dr. Paul Jennings, Montreal Diocesan Theological College. mp3 file not posted yet - pdf file
The Fullness of the Stature of Christ: The Anglican Covenant in Ecumenical Ecclesiological Perspective, Dr. Nathan Jennings, Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest. pdf file
Mission and Reconciliation in the Anglican Covenant, The Rev. Dr. Titus L. Presler, General Theological Seminary. mp3 file not posted yet - pdf file
Third Keynote Address:
Boundaries Old and Boundaries New: Views from the Edge of the Anglican Communion, the Rev. Canon Gregory Cameron, Deputy Secretary General of the Anglican Communion. mp3 file - pdf file
Photographs from this and other Tutu Center events can be veiwed on shutterfly website
For upcoming conferences at The Desmond Tutu Center as well as more information on the Center go to tutucenter.org website.
