Doctrine Commission (Church of England)


During the twentieth century, the Church of England periodically established a doctrine commission to report on an important theological question. The first commission "was appointed in 1922 and reported in 1938". In early years the commissions appear to have been appointed solely by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. In recent years the doctrine commission was constituted as a sub-commission of the General Synod. However, the members of the doctrine commission continued to be nominated by the Archbishops. In the early 1980s the House of Bishops took a greater interest in the work of the doctrine commission and the report We Believe in God was published "under its authority". This practice continued for the next three reports. After the completion of Being Human no further doctrine commission was nominated. In 2010 General Synod established a new permanent Faith and Order Commission of the General Synod which took over responsibility for producing theological reports for the House of Bishops.

Doctrine Commission Reports

above reprints We Believe in God, We Believe in the Holy Spirit and The Mystery of Salvation
Since 2010 the Faith and Order Commission of the General Synod - which acts as a 'theological resource for the church as a whole' - has taken over the role played previously by the doctrine commission. Following the resignation of Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury in 2012 the English theologian John Milbank called for the foundation of an international doctrine commission. This body would be designed to serve the entire Anglican communion and would mirror the Catholic International Theological Commission which was founded in 1969.