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Miniblog #95: What Sort of Anglican is N.T. Wright?

by Carson T. Clark on January 10, 2012

A semi-regular discussion I’ve been running across lately concerns what sub-tradition of Anglicanism N.T. Wright belongs to: evangelical or Anglo-Catholic? It seems to me that most of the confusion lies in the ol’ “lost in translation” problem. The twist is that both parties are English-speaking Anglicans. It’s just that their words convey alternate cultural meanings, or subtleties, on either side of the pond. Wright has often described himself as an evangelical. Yet he means something distinctly different by that than the (well-earned) caricature of American evangelicals.11.For example, he’s outspoken in his commitment to the Scripture’s authority yet is a supporter of women’s ordination; he’s more than open to theistic evolution yet is critical of right-wing American politics. Not to narrow in too specifically on the political realm, but I’m reminded of this quote of his: “From where many of us in the UK sit, American politics is hopelessly polarized. All kinds of issues get bundled up into two great heaps. The rest of the world, today and across the centuries, simply doesn’t see things in this horribly oversimplified way.” Yet he also seems to be the sort who prefers more aesthetically High Church worship practices while appreciating the doctrinal insights of such Anglo-Catholics as C.S. Lewis and John Henry Newman. In order words, he makes complete sense from an English vantage point but is rather hard for Americans to conceptually pin down. He messes with our schema(s). Like a lot of people over there, if you asked him what type of Anglican he is I suspect he’d chuckle and say something like, “The Church of England sort… What an oddly American question!”

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  • http://agprosser.wordpress.com/ Aaron G. Prosser

    You mean, labels don’t cross cultural boundaries well?

    • Charles Twombly

      Nope, they sure don’t.

  • Andrew Percy

    In Australia most evangelical anglicans would distance themselves from the american style evangelicalism, I am one of those people. There are evangelical churches and lobby organisations (such as the Australian Christian Lobby) who seem to be a carbon copy of what is considered evangelical in America.

    (Also, i only just started reading this blog and find it to be fantastic)

    • Charles Twombly

      Andrew, like your opening sentences and cringe at your penultimate one. (Good blog indeed. Keep contributing.)

    • Pkmclennan

      I tend to think that the evangelical Anglicana where I come from (Sydney region Australia) feel a greater affinity to American Evangelicals such as Piper than with English ones.

    • Andrew Percy

      Sorry, you are right to call me on this, I obviosuly am only one person and cannot speak for all Australians.

      I acknowledge that a) Sydney is by far the most evangelical diocese in Australia and b) Sydney does have much more in common with American christianity.

      I am in Melbourne and study at Ridley college. Melbourne was founded by an evangelical bishop who later founded Ridley Hall in Cambridge, these days it has a small majority of evangelicals, but is mostly known as a diocese of huge diversity.

      It has been my experience through parish life and my Ridley community (which also includes evangelicals from South Australia and Tasmania is that in general, we are more similar to our English brothers (even though we still enjoy Piper).

      I feel The sidenote “outspoken in his commitment to the Scripture’s authority yet is a supporter of women’s ordination; he’s more than open to theistic evolution yet is critical of right-wing American politics” fits us particularly well. Leon Morris was a supporter of women’s ordination have an evangelical female Bishop (Something I have heard More college graduates are horrified by).

  • Charles Twombly

    We Yanks often reveal our parochialism in cases like this. As the “greatest country in the world,” we often take our religious practices as the gold standard too. One weird expression of this is the almost complete ignorance of (even) the very existence of the “Nicene” Creed (arguably the most important document–outside of the Bible itself–in the whole of Christian history outside of Anglican (and Lutheran?) churches. So it’s easy to see how American evangelicals often talk at cross purposes with the likes of a Tom Wright. The heartening news is that he almost certainly understands us (given his travels and time in Canada) better than we understand him. Nice that at least one of two parties is in touch with reality.

  • http://thatswhatcortneysaid.blogspot.com Cortney Dale

    I’m an American, but also Anglican/Episcopal, so this label makes perfect sense to me. Evangelical to me just means someone eager to share the good news of the gospel in an open way. Culturally, Americans have a much more we-know-best-so-shut-up-and-listen approach to a lot of issues, and I think this distinction here is a religious example of a wider cultural difference.

  • Moto

    Good post!

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