General Ordination Examination 1993

Please review the General Instructions before you begin work on this question and again when you put your answers in final form.

SET I Monday, January 4, 1993, 9:00 a.m. to 12 Noon

OPEN BOOK

(This set focuses on the Canonical area of Ethics and Moral Theology. It also deals with Holy Scripture, Contemporary Society, and Theory and Practice of Ministry.)

You are part of the multi-racial staff in a large, predominately white parish. The racial/ethnic mix of the community and of the congregation has been changing and tensions among groups are increasing. The diocese funds a community center operated in parish facilities. Recipients of the center's services are primarily members of ethnic minority groups in the surrounding neighborhood. The predominately white vestry has been administering the diocesan funds, while a committee of minority representatives runs the center.

The committee has recently asked the diocese to make its annual grant directly to the committee rather than to the vestry. (Canon law does not prohibit this arrangement.) The vestry is upset, but the committee is determined to administer the funds. Charges of racism, betrayal, and lack of trust have been exchanged, and the whole parish has become embroiled.

The clergy have been asked to help the vestry and the committee explore the underlying issues and make proposals to resolve them.

PREPARE A PAPER OF NOT MORE THAN 1250 WORDS FOR THE STAFF. In your paper, respond to all four of the following. Please take care not to alter the circumstances of the situation as presented.

A. Briefly analyze the dynamics of this situation, with particular reference to why charges of racism and lack of trust are being leveled.

B. Identify the ethical and theological issues involved.

C. Identify resources from Scripture, tradition, and social theory which may be helpful in understanding racism and cultural conflict in light of the Gospel.

D. Suggest a possible course of action, and explain why you think this course of action is morally appropriate for a Christian church today.

SET II Monday, January 4, 1993 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

OPEN BOOK

(This set focuses on the Canonical areas of Christian Theology and Church History.)

Article I of the Articles of Religion begins:

There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker, and Preserver of all things visible and invisible.

RESPOND TO ALL THREE QUESTIONS
IN A TOTAL OF NOT MORE THAN 1250 WORDS

A. This article contains claims about the nature of God made by Anglican theologians in the 16th century. What historical-theological issues were at state at the time this statement was made? Why was it important to make these assertions at that time?

B. Discuss two 20th century Christian or cultural claims about the nature of God which seem to affirm some or all of these assertions, and two which seem to contradict them.

C. What significance do the claims in this part of Article I have for the Church today? Explain your position.

SET III Tuesday, January 5, 1993, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

OPEN BOOK

(This set focuses on the Canonical areas of Liturgics and Church Music and Theory and Practice of Ministry. It also deals with Christian Theology.)

RESPOND TO ALL THREE QUESTIONS IN PART A
AND
ALL THREE QUESTIONS IN PART B
IN A TOTAL OF NOT MORE THAN 2500 WORDS.

Please take case not to alter the circumstances
of the situation as presented.

Part A.

You are the rector of a parish in a small community, and the parish is preparing for Christmas. In keeping with the practice of many previous years, you have scheduled a 5:00 p.m. Christmas Eve service, consisting of a Eucharist with Christmas Pageant; a midnight Eucharist; and a 10:00 a.m. Eucharist on Christmas Day.

1. Indicate which of the available propers, rites, and eucharistic prayers you would use at each service and why.

2. Choose hymns for each of the services, indicating the reasons for your selections. (Specify the musical support available at each service - organ, choir, children's choir, other instruments.)

3. What ceremonial additions might you consider for these services? Why?

Part B.

In the late evening of December 22, the teen-aged son of one of the parish's most active families (he was to play Joseph in the pageant) is killed by a drunk driver. Not only the parish but also the entire community is stunned and grief-stricken.

1. Identify the pastoral problems that you might anticipate in this situation, and indicate how you would approach them. What reasons would be helpful, and how would you use them?

2. Discuss the theological issues inherent in this situation, occurring as it does, at Christmas.

3. What liturgical and homiletical adjustments would you make to each of the three services? Why?

SET IV Thursday, January 7, 1993 - 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

OPEN BOOK

(This set focuses on the Canonical areas of Holy Scripture and Contemporary Society.)

Today religion in America is as private and diverse as New England colonial religion was public and unified. One person we interviewed actually named her religion (she calls it her "faith") as herself. . . . Sheila Larson is a young nurse who has received a good deal of therapy and who describes her faith as "Sheilaism." "I believe in God. I'm not a religious fanatic. I can't remember the last time I went to church. My faith has carried me a long way. It's Sheilaism. Just my own little voice." . . .

Through the peculiarly American phenomenon of revivalism, the emphasis on personal experience would eventually override all efforts at church discipline. . . . We have noted the presence of individuals who found their own way in religion even in the eighteenth century. Thomas Jefferson said, "I am a sect myself," and Thomas Paine, "My mind is my church."

Robert Bellah, et al., Habits of the Heart

WRITE NO MORE THAN 2500 WORDS IN ALL.

Citing pertinent examples from both Hebrew and Christian scriptures, discuss several of the major biblical understandings of the relationship between the individual and the community. Compare and contrast these biblical understandings with some of the understandings of the relationship between the individual and the community that appear in the contemporary American culture.

SET V Friday, January 8, 1993 - 9:00 a.m. to 12 Noon

OPEN BOOK

(This set focuses on the Canonical areas of Church History, Christian Theology, and Ethics and Moral Theology.)

Background. Liberal and socialist revolutions rocked Europe in 1848, the year Karl Marx published The Communist Manifesto. In England 1848 marked the high-point of social turmoil around the Chartist Movement. This year also witnessed the appearance of Cecil Frances Alexander's subsequently popular hymn "All things bright and beautiful" (Hymnal 1982, #405). We do not today, however, sing her hymn's third verse (based on Jesus' Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man, cf. Luke 16:19-31). In contrast to the apocalyptic events of 1848, she exegeted the Gospel and set forth a vision of social relations at least as old as Constantinian Christianity:

The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate--
God made them high and lowly,
and ordered their estate. Refrain

What follows has to do, then, with Anglican social teaching and engagement in the light of the Gospel and with regard to the poor, homeless, and oppressed.

Essay assignment. In terms of the problems and contrasts noted in the above "Background" statement, focus on the 19th century response to industrialized society by one of the following Anglican groups: 1) the Evangelicals, 2) the Anglo-Catholics, 3) the Christian Socialists (Great Britain) or 4) the Social Gospellers (United States).

After identifying the group you have chosen, RESPOND TO THESE QUESTIONS IN NO MORE THAN 1250 WORDS IN ALL:

A. Who was involved and what were the circumstances? i.e., the historical situation in terms of actors, responses to social problems, and issues among or between groups or classes of Christian people;

B. What did the advocates of the poor think they were doing? i.e., theological justifications or ecclesiology that characterized their engagement of the social situation, especially in light of Luke 16:19-31 and the hymn verse above;

C. Why did they do it? i.e., the eschatology that motivated them, forming their values and energizing their activities;

D. How do you evaluate their social contribution to the Church's mission? i.e., what you conceive to have been the transforming contribution or lasting influence of the group for Anglican ecclesiology, theology, and ethics/moral theology; and what criteria you use in so evaluating their contribution or influence.

SET VI Coffee Hour Questions Friday, January 8, 1993, 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

CLOSED BOOK Answer from memory only. WRITE NOT MORE THAN 100 WORDS ON EACH QUESTION There are 15 questions, on both sides of this paper.

Please write as legibly as possible, using black ink on white paper. Write on only one side of the paper and conserve paper - do NOT begin each question on a new page. Number pages as with other parts of this exam: ___ of ___.

Write as if you were speaking to the questioner.

1. With the spread of AIDS, don't you think the Episcopal Church should consider using individual cups for communion, like some other churches?

2. I don't understand why we are allowing children to take Communion before confirmation. I had to wait until Confirmation, and children don't understand it anyway.

3. My husband was a veteran. When he died, I received an American flag. I've noticed that we have no flag in our church. Therefore I've decided to donate his flag with a stand to the parish and ask that it be displayed prominently near the altar as a memorial to him and as a symbol of our loyalty as Americans.

4. I don't approve of Lay Eucharistic Ministers. If I'm ill, I want a priest to bring me the Sacrament.

5. What do you think of Billy Graham's statement that he would not take sides on the rights of homosexuals because he didn't want his stand on the issue to get in the way of his proclaiming the Gospel?

6. I've heard that the Episcopal Church is concerned about our stewardship of the environment. Shouldn't we pay attention to human needs first?

7. I don't want any of my pledge to go to the Parish Summer Day Camp for all those kids that don't come to our church. I'm going to give my money to our special Youth Group Fund. That's all right, isn't it?

8. Why do we hear so much about the Holy Trinity when it's not even mentioned in the Bible?

9. Why do we have statues of Jesus and some of the saints in our church? The Bible tells us not to make graven images, or even likenesses, of anything, or bow down to them or worship them.

10. Today's Gospel says that whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven. What does that mean?

11. Who was George Herbert? I noticed his name in the Calendar.

12. I heard that some bishop said we are becoming more "congregationalist." What's that mean? Aren't we the Episcopal Church?

13. I have often heard that the church's earliest writers were considered to be apologists. What were they apologizing for?

14. I can understand the importance of Scripture and Reason, but what so great about Tradition?

15. I thought that Episcopalians and Roman Catholics had agreed about what Communion means. I went to a Roman Catholic wedding, but the priest said only Roman Catholics could receive Communion. Why?