Lent an evolving tradition, says professor
https://archives.anglican.ca/link/article42654
- Author
- Folkins, Tali
- Material Type
- Journal Article
- Journal
- Anglican Journal
- Date
- 2020 March
- Author
- Folkins, Tali
- Material Type
- Journal Article
- Journal
- Anglican Journal
- Date
- 2020 March
- Volume
- 146
- Issue
- 3
- Page
- 2
- Notes
- "Anglicans may seem inconsistent when it comes to Len: for every Anglican who gives something up ... there's another one for whom such practices don't seem essential to the season". "The answer could lie in the origins of the denomination itself, which arose in a time of theological wrestling about the relative importance of faith and good works, a professor at the University of Toronto's Wycliffe College [Alan Hayes] says". "Lent was problematic for some early reformers because of the importance it had traditionally given to fasting. Some, such as Martin Luther (1483-1546), were concerned that people might view fasting and other external practices (or 'works') as more important that faith, which these reformers considered the true heart of Christianity". "This debate, Hayes says, seems to have shaped the 1549 'Book of Common Prayer', written by English reformer Thomas Cranmer. The prayer book's Ash Wednesday prayer shifts the emphasis of Lent away from fasting to the inner life of the Christian". "[T]here may have been some increase of Lenten practices among Anglicans during the 20th century as a result of the Liturgical Movement, which had the tendency of softening historical Protestant suspicions of Roman Catholic tradition". "In a 2014 opinion piece on U.S.-based website Christianity.com 'Why has Lent become cool with evangelicals ?', Doug Ponder, a founding pastor of a Virginia church, wrote that in the previous 10 years he had seen 'an explosion of evangelical observation of Lent'. Ponder speculated that three factors seemed mostly to be driving the trend: the increased spread of ideas about religious practice made possible by the Internet; a yearning among many Christians, in the face of rapid societal change, to connect with 'something certain and unchanging'; and a widespread desire in today's culture for 'unique experiences'."
- Subjects
- Lent - Anglican Church of Canada
- Lent - Prayer-books and devotions
- Anglican Church of Canada - Customs and practices
- Fasting - History of doctrines - 16th century
- Fasting - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada
- Luther, Martin, 1483-1546
- Cranmer, Thomas, 1489-1556
- Evangelicals - 21st century