"And so out of these two powerful and heavily-charged texts comes the classic Christian conviction: what we encounter in Jesus Christ is simply the truth. It is the truth about God and the truth about humanity. Not living into that truth and accepting it, has consequences because this is the last word about God and God's creation. So we speak of the finality of Christ. There's nothing more to know. Or we speak of the uniqueness of Christ. No one apart from Jesus of Nazareth expresses the truth like this."
http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/2789
I have been highly critical of the Archbishop of Canterbury. And then, just when I have myself whipped up into a rhetorical fury, he comes along and gives one of his brilliant and beautiful lectures. This one is a couple months old, but did not receive due attention at the time. If you are an Episcopalian in a foxhole looking for a reprieve from KJS inspired syncretism, sit back in your comfy chair and read through this lecture a couple times.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Synod must fight totalitarian bullies
By Peter Mullen, CEN
The whole of this is well worth reading:
http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/2010/05/20/synod-must-fight-totalitarian-bullies/
"The integrity which opposes the ordination of women is no mere misogynist whim. It is a theological integrity and it was outlined as long ago as the 1940s by the great Christian apologist C S Lewis: 'Suppose the reformer begins to say that God is like a good woman. Suppose she says that we might just as well pray to Our Mother which art in heaven as to Our Father. Suppose that the Incarnation might just as well have taken a female form. Suppose the Second Person of the Trinity be as well called Daughter of God as Son of God. Suppose finally that the mystical marriage betwixt ‘Christ and his Church’ were reversed, that the Church became the Bridegroom and Christ the Bride. All this is involved in the claim that a woman can represent God as priest.'"
TJ's note: Whether one agrees, or not, with the Anglo Catholic position on the ordination of women, there can be little argument that it is THE traditional position of the Church.
The whole of this is well worth reading:
http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/2010/05/20/synod-must-fight-totalitarian-bullies/
"The integrity which opposes the ordination of women is no mere misogynist whim. It is a theological integrity and it was outlined as long ago as the 1940s by the great Christian apologist C S Lewis: 'Suppose the reformer begins to say that God is like a good woman. Suppose she says that we might just as well pray to Our Mother which art in heaven as to Our Father. Suppose that the Incarnation might just as well have taken a female form. Suppose the Second Person of the Trinity be as well called Daughter of God as Son of God. Suppose finally that the mystical marriage betwixt ‘Christ and his Church’ were reversed, that the Church became the Bridegroom and Christ the Bride. All this is involved in the claim that a woman can represent God as priest.'"
TJ's note: Whether one agrees, or not, with the Anglo Catholic position on the ordination of women, there can be little argument that it is THE traditional position of the Church.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Is there an Anglican Communion?
What is a "communion of churches?" Does the organization known as the Anglican Communion still qualify to use the word? Until about 2007, there were any number of difficulties within the Communion, brought about primarily by the Episcopal Church in the US and the Anglican Church of Canada deciding to break the Vincentian canon on issues of sexuality. In 2007, the Primates of the Communion met to determine a course of action, and this course was announced to the world in a communique, and subsequent press conference with the Archbishop of Canterbury and Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. A process was laid out to assure adequate episcopal oversight for those in the US and Canadian Churches unable to abide the changes the leadership of those two churches had instituted, in other words, provisions were made for those who maintained the faith as it had been held- everywhere, always, and by the whole Church. Additionally, a series of steps were recommended to reconcile the US and Canadian churches with the other Churches of the Communion.
And then, well, the plan was dropped. Never formally, or officially, no second vote was taken. The Archbishop of Canterbury just stopped the process dead in its tracks. TEC and ACoC went on their way, deposing a dozen bishops, including one from the Church of England, and hundreds of priests, and in the process, breaking communion with tens of thousands of laity, hundreds of parishes and 4 entire dioceses. To this day, those tens of thousands remain out of direct communion with either the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Church of England.
Meanwhile, at the macro level, many of the churches of the Communion are not in communion with each other. A priest from TEC can no longer (with the rare exception of those who can demonstrate that they have resisted the TEC innovations) transfer to Nigeria, and a Nigerian bishop visiting the US would not receive communion in the majority of the dioceses or churches. If there is to be no communion, what is the point of the Anglican Communion?
The silence and inaction have gone on too long. It is time for difficult choices to be made, if any communion, or Communion, is to be preserved in the Anglican world.
And then, well, the plan was dropped. Never formally, or officially, no second vote was taken. The Archbishop of Canterbury just stopped the process dead in its tracks. TEC and ACoC went on their way, deposing a dozen bishops, including one from the Church of England, and hundreds of priests, and in the process, breaking communion with tens of thousands of laity, hundreds of parishes and 4 entire dioceses. To this day, those tens of thousands remain out of direct communion with either the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Church of England.
Meanwhile, at the macro level, many of the churches of the Communion are not in communion with each other. A priest from TEC can no longer (with the rare exception of those who can demonstrate that they have resisted the TEC innovations) transfer to Nigeria, and a Nigerian bishop visiting the US would not receive communion in the majority of the dioceses or churches. If there is to be no communion, what is the point of the Anglican Communion?
The silence and inaction have gone on too long. It is time for difficult choices to be made, if any communion, or Communion, is to be preserved in the Anglican world.
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