#8: Historic Anglicanism is of rational ethos

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In the words of Dr. Barnett:

"Eight, historically speaking, "historic" Anglicanism has been of rational ethos. It has been prepared to engage in study and debate. Anglican evangelism has been associated with apologetics, eschewing manipulative or unworthy methods of bringing people to Christ. C.S. Lewis and J.R.W Stott come to mind in this regard, giving thousands in their generations and beyond a ground for hope in the intellectual and moral acceptability of the Christian faith."

I know that this is an appeal for me. My experience of Anglicanism has been what they call 'low church': Unadorned, but truthful. Formal, and not chaotic. Straight-forward, but in no way anti-intellectual. I was never asked to believe things that couldn't be simply shown from Scripture and reason. And we have never been asked to 'check our brains at the door'. On the contrary, we were encouraged to learn and debate as much or more than we could handle. I also like how there appears to be very few 'litmus test' verses unfairly used to prove your spiritual metal (let the reader understand).

I am reminded of the Apostle Paul's words to the starry-eyed Corinthians:

Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

Two more to go...
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