One step forward, two steps back: a critical analysis of Anglican and Roman Catholic bilateral relations from a theological perspective

Abstract

This paper is a critical examination of Anglican-Roman Catholic bilateral relations from a theological perspective. The main argument of the paper is that while the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches consider themselves to be in a special relationship as a result of a number of theological agreements reached over the past forty years aimed at bringing them closer together than ever before, they are far from achieving visible church unity. The achievements made over the years, in the form of agreed theological texts have, from time to time, been derailed by subtle theological differences between the two church traditions. This can best be described in the words of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin “One step forward, two steps back”. The paper concludes that given the small amount of progress, which is pushed back by a large amount of setbacks, church unity is unattainable.