Anglican Incident (Defined)
Since I've used the expression Anglican Incident a few times now, I thought a working definition might be in order:
an·gli·can in·ci·dent
n. a protracted episode involving more than one Anglican and generally characterized by:
- Increased frequency of mitre sightings in international airports
- A marked rise in the fog index with off-the-chart use of the words authority, polity, report, and resolution
- The multiplication of straw people and positions to knock down in a temper when reasonable arguments are otherwise unavailable
- Cadres of clergy, bloggers, and theologians prowling for enemies (or straw people) to rail against
- A proliferation in the number of canon lawyers
- Anglican documents attaining headline status
- An approaching Lambeth Conference
- A larger than usual catch of red fish of the herring species
- Renewed scrutiny over the writings of 16th- and 17th- century theologians, at least one of whom, in the minds of the uninitiated, risks getting confused with prostitution
- The invocation of the names Spong and Pike often, but not exclusively, in reference to those damned Yanks
- Obsession over the number of votes, parishes, dioceses, bishops, words in speeches by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and angels dancing on the head of a pin
- The majority of the laity rolling their eyes and getting on with the business of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
- Clerical frustration at observing the above
2 comments:
Ha! What great definitions! I'll have to ponder to see if I can think of any that aren't on the list. How about things that might cause an Anglican incident... like a global shortage of cucumbers? :-)
Hmmm...General Convention could be defined as an Anglican Incident...
Jeffri
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