Episcopacy and the Succession of Bishops

When was the last time you heard of a member of a baptistic Christian commune becoming an Anglican priest? On this episode of Credo podcast, Dr. Gerald McDermott, author of Deep Anglicanism: A Brief Guide, an Anglican priest, sits down with Matthew Barrett to discuss his theological journey and why his views on polity and liturgy changed. McDermott was a professor at Beeson Divinity School before becoming a professor at Reformed Episcopal Seminary.

Barrett and McDermott discuss the role of the church fathers in their respective journeys to Anglicanism. McDermott utilizes his background in church history to describe how consistent the threefold structure of holy orders (bishop, priest, and deacon) is in the history of the church in contrast to modern structures such as presbyterianism and congregationalism. In addition, he traces the role of the bishop in carrying forward the tradition of the Apostles, the bishop being a successor of the apostles. McDermott describes how a well-informed study of church history can show us the way the Holy Spirit has protected the church from heresy by consistently raising up faithful bishops to succeed one another. McDermott counters claims that the church was corrupted immediately after the apostolic age by pointing to both the strong gospel witness in the writings of the church fathers and the convictions of the English Reformers, convictions that aligned with the Fathers themselves.

Gerald McDermott (PhD, University of Iowa) teaches at Jerusalem Seminary and Reformed Episcopal Seminary. He also recently retired from the Anglican Chair of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School. He is the author, co-author or editor of dozens of books, including A New History of Redemption, Deep Anglicanism: A Brief Guide,  The Future of Orthodox Anglicanism, and  Jonathan Edwards Confronts the Gods. As a renowned Edwards scholar, McDermott has produced six books on Edwards; his Theology of Jonathan Edwards (coauthored with Michael McClymond) won Christianity Today’s 2013 award for Top Book in Theology/Ethics.

Matthew Barrett is Research Professor of Theology at Trinity Anglican Seminary. He has been appointed the McDonald Agape visiting scholar at Dominican House of Studies and the Thomistic Institute. He is the founder of Credo. He is the author of award-winning books like Simply Trinity and On Classical Theology. Currently he is writing a Systematic Theology with Baker Academic. He is the theologian-in-residence of Anselm House at St. Aidan’s Anglican Church. Subscribe to his newsletter to receive updates on his writing.

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