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J. I. PACKER: The Greatest Admirer of the Church of South India

J. I. PACKER: The Greatest Admirer of the Church of South India

By Dr. Joseph G. Muthuraj
Special to VIRTUEONLINE
www.virtueonline.org
July 25, 2016

There was, quite rightly, hostile reactions particularly in England, before and after the implementation of the plan of church union in south India and the inauguration of the Church of South India (CSI) in 1947.

An Anglican clergyman F. W. Fuller of St. John's Society, issued a statement in 1932 saying, "The accomplishment of the Scheme (South India Scheme for Union) would seem to me to introduce an intolerable state of confusion." He remarked that the Anglican Communion could not "enter into such a chaos". The Bishop of Bradford, addressing the clergy at a diocesan meeting convened on 28 May 1943, called the CSI Scheme "schismatic". In 1944, T. S. Eliot, a spokesman for the opponents of the South India Scheme, in his article "Reunion by Destruction" was scornful of the union efforts by commenting that the church of south India was a "Pantomime horse". Perhaps after reading Eliot's pamphlet, one of the vicars put up the following notice in the porch of his church "Members of the Church of South India may not communicate in this church" even when there existed no likelihood of any CSI member crossing the seas to take communion in that remote village church.

The decision at the Lambeth 1948 cannot easily be wiped away from the memory of an ardent and faithful member of the CSI when it decided, "The fact that the Church of South India will not be a member of the group of Churches called the Anglican Communion will inevitably impose on our brethren a temporary severance of close and treasured relationships, in council and synod, with their brethren in North India."

In such an atmosphere of negative criticism and distrust mainly coming from a section of Anglo-Catholics and, on top of it, angry treatment meted out to the CSI by the Anglican establishment, it was a great joy to see and listen to great stalwarts like J. I. Packer, who spoke and wrote in support of the South Indian efforts to realise organic union between the episcopal and non-episcopal churches. He was not just a sympathizer and a well-wisher but an admirer of the CSI and his admiration took the form of an advocacy for spreading among, and teaching to, the churches in England the core unitive principles of the CSI.

The venerable Packer has rightly found a permanent place in the annuls of the post-union history of the Church of South India particularly when he became a pleader for it before the people of the Church of England. Therefore his 90th birthday is a matter of joy and celebration for this member of the CSI living and witnessing for Christ thousands of miles away.

Naturally, my mind began to recall what was written by Dr. Packer in the middle of the Twentieth Century and thereafter. Let me compile some excerpts from one of his key articles he read to the 1968 Conference of Evangelical Churchmen entitled, "The Church of South India and Reunion in England" This was later published in The Churchman (82, no. 4 winter 1968: pp. 249--61)

He began with these memorable statements:

"On 27 September 1947, the Church of South India was born. On 27 September 1968, it came of age." (p. 249)

"It is an episcopally ordered church, consisting of thirteen dioceses; its three-fold ministry is structured in the Anglican manner; and it is still, after 21 years, the only church united out of episcopal and non-episcopal units that the world has yet seen. Bishop Stephen Neill's statement that the inauguration of the CSI is 'the greatest venture yet made anywhere in the direction of church union' remains as true in 1968 as it was in 1960, when it first appeared in print. No other scheme for such a union has yet come to fruition. The CSI still goes it alone." (p. 249)

"First, those who speak from inside the CSI, as past or present members and officers, are unanimous that the new fellowship has been liberating and creative, and that beyond any question the life of the catholic church, as mirrored in the New Testament, has been authentically manifested within the CSI structure. The witnesses here include Bishops Stephen Neill, Michael Hollis, and Lesslie Newbigin, Professor Anthony Hanson, and the Indian lay leader Rajaiah D. Paul." (p. 249)

Packer acknowledged, "What is claimed here is not, of course, that the CSI is a perfect church, nor even that it is a healthy church (its own report on itself, Renewal and Advance, was scathing in self-censure), only that it is a real church, that is that it is part of the one universal church of Jesus Christ,..." (p. 249)

Describing the mood in the Lambeth 1948 with regard to the CSI, he wrote; "In 1948, Lambeth's attitude to the young church was one of freezing non-welcome. The bishops expressed disapproval of the way that its ministry had been unified..." (p. 250)

Here is the multi-vitamin capsule which could energise the Anglican churches to consider union without much doubt. It is in the form of a Pledge facilitating and sustaining union in south India and was quoted by Packer, "They [the uniting Churches] therefore pledge themselves and fully trust each other that the United Church will at all times be careful not to allow any overriding of conscience either by Church authorities or by majorities. . . . Neither forms of worship or ritual, nor a ministry to which they have not been accustomed or to which they conscientiously object, will be imposed upon any congregation; and no arrangements with regard to these matters will knowingly be made, either generally or in particular cases, which would either offend the conscientious convictions of persons directly concerned, or which would hinder the development of complete unity within the United Church or imperil its progress towards union with other churches." (p. 251)

Packer then commented, "The Pledge expresses, on the one hand, the belief that the differences of conviction involved here are tolerable within a united church and, on the other hand, an attitude of mutual love, trust, and pastoral concern." (p. 251)

This was one of Packer's deepest convictions when he, along with several others, wrote An Open Letter Concerning the Anglican-Methodist Conversation on February 1964 in which, they affirmed, "We are convinced that the right way to unite ministries is by mutual recognition, with episcopal ordination thereafter, as in the Church of South India. For this reason we request the full communion with the Church of South India may be established now..." (All in Each Place: Towards Reunion in England, ed. by J. Packer, 1965, p. 16) The Anglican Church was at this stage having only a limited intercommunion with the Church of South India.

The Open Letter went on to appeal finally that, "We would not oppose a provision, corresponding to the Church of South India 'Pledge', to safeguard the consciences of those to whom the ministry of such would not be acceptable". (All in Each Place, p. 16)

In the same book, Packer's chapter on "Wanted a Pattern for Union" has the following concluding sentences which should be of great interest to any student of the history of Church union. He said, "It is said that a scheme modelled on South India would be intolerable to the consciences of many. We should like to know why, for we can see no reason why it should. Our thesis is that this is, in our situation, the only right way that is open to us (Italics his)...But if we are not prepared for long-term strains and stresses in seeking union in the right way (Italics mine), surely that must mean that we are not yet ready for union at all?" (All in Each Place, p. 40)

Now turning to the aforesaid article of Packer, no one can miss reading his words which authenticate his admiration for the Church of South India. Like Bishop Newbiggin, he sought to inject the union philosophy of CSI into the ecumenical discussions in England. He urged, "The twenty-first birthday of CSI was marked by a meeting in London under the title 'Church Unity-has the CSI the answer?' I propose to argue that, for us in England at any rate, it has, in the sense that the only way through our present difficulties that does not threaten more harm than good is to apply the principles on which the CSI was founded in 1947." (pp. 251-52)

For the Anglican-Methodist union in Britain, Packer wholeheartedly advocated that, "the application of South India principles would lead to a shift of interest in the project as a whole." (Italics his) He added, "We should stir ourselves up, at this level, to bite off more. We should embrace more clearheadedly and whole-heartedly the South India objective of multilateral union enhancing the significance of the local church by enabling its truly local character to be realised." (p. 256)

Packer admonished, "Anglo-Catholics should not find the South India method insuperably objectionable, and others in both our Churches should find it positively congenial. As Colin Buchanan has argued more than once, 14 the CSI way holds a genuine balance, not weighting the scales for or against either 'catholic' or reformed convictions about church and ministry..." (p. 257) He pleaded with the members of the Church of England with these moving words: "We have, I think, seen clearly that the CSI way is the better way, and that the arguments against it are not substantial. If I have in fact carried you to this conclusion, I can only invite your prayers that God will so order events that this way may in due course be taken." (p. 260)

I am grateful for the privilege given to me by VIRTUEONLINE to remember the words of a true friend and faithful advocate of Church union in Britain along the lines of what was earnestly sought and achieved in south India and to wish the great leader J. I. Packer in a typical Oriental way, "May you live for hundred years".

The Rev. Dr. Joseph G Muthuraj is Presbyter of the Church of South India and Professor in New Testament at the United Theological College, Bangalore, India.

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