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".^[1] 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.^[2] However, the members of the doctrine commission continued to be nominated by the Archbishops.^[3] 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 (1987) was published "under its authority".^[4] This practice continued for the next three reports. After the completion of Being Human (2002) 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.^[5]