EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnEXECUTIVK EDITORrnScott P. RkhertrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williatnson, Jr.rnASSISTANT EDITORrnJeffrey Thomas KuhnerrnART DIRECTORrnH. Ward SterettrnDESICKERrnMelanie AndersonrnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnKatherine Dalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rnPhilip Jenkins, J.O. Tate, MichaelrnWaslihum, Clyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnJanet Scott Barlow, Bill Kauffman,rnDonald Livingston, William Mills,rnWilliam Murchison, AndreirnNavrozov, Jacob NeusnerrnEIEM EDITORrnGeorge McCartneyrnFOREIGN AFFAIRS EDITORrnSrdja TrifkovicrnEEGAL AFFAIRS EDITORrnStephen B. PresserrnREEIGION EDITORrnHarold O.J. BrownrnEDITORIAE SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnGIRCUIATION MANAC;ERrnCindy LinkrnPUBLISHERrnThe Rockford InstituternA publication oEHie Rockford Iiistitiitc.rnEditorial and Adertising Offices:rn928 North Mam Street, Rockford, IE 61103.rnWebsite: v^’v.chronicIesiriagazine.or£^rnEditorial Phone: (815) 964-5054,rnAcKertising Phone: (815)964-5813.rnSubscription Department: P.O. Box 800,rnMount Morris, IE 61054. Call 1-800-877-5459.rnU.S.A. Newsstand L^istribution b’ Eastern NewsrnDistributors, Inc., One Media Va-, 12406 Rt. 250,rnMilan, Ohio 44848-9705.rnCopxright © 2000 bi,’ The Rockford InsHtute.rnAll nghts rcscr”cd.rnChronicles: A Magazine of Amencan Cnlturern(ISSN 0887-5731) is published mondily for $39.00rn(foreign .subscriptions add $ 12 for .surface delicr-,rn$48 for/ir Mail) per ear b ‘I’lic Rockford Institute,rn928 North Main Street, Rockford, IE 61103-7061.rnPreferred periodical postage paid at Rockford, IErnand additional mailing offices. POSTNLSTER:rnScud address changes to Chronicles, P.O. Box 800,rnMountMon-is, IE 61054.rnThe ie\s expressed in Chronicles are thernaiidiors aionc and do not necessariE reflectrnthe iew.s of The Rockford Iirstitute or of itsrndirectors. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot bernreturned unless accompanied b’ a self-addressedrnstamped emelope.rnChroniclesrn(>l.:4 No. 10 Odc.bcr 2(1011rnP n i i l c ( l i i i l l u ‘ l i | i i l n l S l a l c s ( ) f . i i i c n c arnPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESrnOn EpiscopalianismrnWhile William Murchison (CulturalrnRevolutions, June) is correct that thernUnited States, and, in particular, almostrnall of its nominally Christian bodies,rnshould be seen as a missionar}- field, hisrnprescribed cure will only make the patientrnmore gravely ill.rnProtestant faith is being eaten alive byrna monster with three heads: heresy, Anglo-rnCatholicism, and charismatic theolog}’.rnWorldwide Anglicanism has the distincHonrnof being consumed by all three.rnSadly, the “hvo stouth’ Orthodox Americanrnpriests” who were consecrated asrn”missionar)’ bishops to the United States”rnare charismatics, as are the consecratingrnbishops from Singapore and Rwanda.rnWhile charismatics seem conservativerncompared to an heretical church whichrndoes not defrock the likes of BishoprnSpong, this wing of Anglicanism is asrnguilty of making “frantic accommodationsrnto the secular culture” as is the archbishoprnof Canterbur)’.rnAs Mr. Murchison writes, the religionrnof the Bible should be what Episcopaliansrnoffer on their (silver or roughhewn)rnplatter, but the Bible was removedrnfrom that platter in 1979 with the demolitionrnof the Book of Common Prayer. nrnfact, Anglicanism has been splitting apartrnover theological issues throughout itsrnlong history, and the heresies of 1979rnwere the watershed of a larger schism.rnWhy have “conservative” charismaticrnEpiscopalians not left an Anglican Communionrnthat has been in heresy for 20rnvears? Because on the central questionrn—what is Scripture, and what does itrndemand of Christians’—this group is asrnslipperv’ as the heretics who permeate thernEpiscopal Church U.S.A.rnThe 1928 Book of Common Prayer,rnlike all of its predecessors, is grounded inrnScripture, including 1 Corinthians 14,rnwhere St. Paul declares that speaking inrntongues and other charismatic “signs ofrnSpirit” are no longer means of the manifestationrnof the Holy Chost. I hat is whyrncharismatic worship didn’t gain acceptancernin the Episcopal Church until afterrn1979. Charismatics are also none toornfond of the 450-year-old Prayer Book’srnstark Morning Prayer Confession, inrnwhich the sinner expresses to Cod tiiat hern”has no health” in him, and that he is arn”miserable offender . . . ” That sort ofrnworship and language won’t “pack ’emrnin” the “contemporary” worship hour ofrnour sensationalist cidture. To be a “conservative”rnin the postmodern AnglicanrnCommunion simply means opposingrngay “marriage.” Charismatics differrnfrom their more liberal brethren only inrnstyle and taste; hence, they have beenrnquite comfortable in the Anglican “BigrnTent,” where the ordination of women isrnin, and the 39 Articles of Religion are out.rnA handful of tiny denominations, seeingrnin 1979, that the emperor had nornclothes, began to weave some, and theyrnhave grown rapidly over the last 20 years.rnMy own denomination, the TraditionalrnProtestant Episcopal Church in PointrnClear, Alabama, has expanded from onernbroken-down old church building, onernminister, and seven parishioners in 1984,rnto a home parish of approximately 170rnmembers, three out-of-state parishes,rneight clerg’men, and a website (www.reformer.rnorg) which gets more and morernvisits each day. By maintaining thernChristianity of Cranmer, Calvin, andrnWesley, littie parishes such as ours arernrestoring the true Anglican Church. I inviternMr. Murchison and other concernedrnEpiscopalians to join us and to forgetrnabout having tea with the archbishopwhich,rnunfortunately, the charismaticsrnare unwilling to forgo.rn—James P. HunterrnMontrose, ALrnAs a cradle Episcopalian, I eagerly readrnWilliam Murchison’s Cultural Revolutionsrnon the Episcopal Church. I havernwatched the Church’s decline and wasrnanxious to see what new light this articlernmight shine on the situation. I wasrnstunned.rnWliat was he trying to do? I cannot figurernit out. Mr. Murchison is the editor ofrnFoundations, a publication of the EpiscopalrnSynod of America, and undoubtedlyrnfully informed about the struggle for Anglicanrnorthodox}-. I can only imagine hernhas written with such subtie irony that hisrnpurpose is beyond me, and nearly anyrnreader, even those of Chronicles.rnHe begins in the past tense: “The EpiscopalrnChurch used to offer salvation—onrnthe inevitable silver-filigreed platter . . .”rnHe then comes to the present: a “rougher-rn4/CHRONICfESrnrnrn