Broken bridges to the wider Anglican Communion will not be repaired by recent actions of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States, the Archbishop of Canterbury has stated in a reflecÂtion that advocates a “two-track” Communion based on accepÂt-ance of the Covenant proposals.
The issue was not human rights or dignity, but whether the Church was free to recognise same-sex unions by means of public blessings seen as analogous to Christian marriage, he said in Communion, Covenant and our Anglican Future, published on Monday.
A “yes” would have had to be preÂceded by “the most painstaking biblical exegesis”, strong consensus, solid theological grounding, and due account taken of the teaching of ecuÂmenical partners. This was not the situation, Dr Williams said. The Church did not sanction the chosen lifestyle of anyone living in a sexual relationship outside marriage, and “a certain choice of lifestyle has certain consequences.
“So long as the Church Catholic, or even the Communion as a whole, does not bless same-sex unions, a person living in such a union cannot without serious incongruity have a representative function in a Church whose public teaching is at odds with their lifestyle.”
This is a standard ABC waffle which he has covered with the maple syrup of endless qualification. BUt David Handy is still right: It is time to act, and the ABC needs to understand that push has come to shove.
There are not two understandings of Anglicanism – if the second is TEC and its ilk, for TEC is not Anglican at all. Well, shall TEC be cast into the outer darkness, gnashing of teeth and the usual? Why of course. What could be more obvious? What could our objection be to dumping such trash into Gehenna? That’s what Gehenna is for. Let the pew sitters look into the valley,and then offer them a free ticket to go there or an opportunity to avoid a even a brief visit. I know what decision they will come to.
The ABC has been Prufrock and we have been Prufrocked again and again. If you are a Christian, you have heard the mermaids singing each to each, and they sing to you as well. Nor more endless vision and revisions. Nor more, “That is not what I meant at all….”
Larry
Larry–While I am a fan of Eliot from my first reading in high school lit, you are above me with your allusion to Prufrock. Please teach me.
Jim, read Eliot’s “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock.” Is is in my judgment Eliot’s finest poem. Prufrock is lost is a maze of vacillation, of indecisiveness; he had become TOO civilized, too thooughtful, and at last, too precious. It is his misfortune that he acutely aware of this and does not know what to do.This world of polite superficialities is summed in the couplet, “In the room, the women come and go,/Talkiing of Michangelo.” Anyway, read it for yourself. You will see my point. Besides, this is a poem you SHOULD memorize. I am working on it right now. Larry
Larry–Thanks, I’ll read it again. But do you really think Rowan is Prufrock or something more like Machiavelli?
Jim, I cannot see him as Machiavellian if we mean by that manipulative in an subtle,unprincipled way for the sake of gaining a particular end. This is the common use rather than a reflection of M actually said. The ABC is too verbose, too intellectual, too diffuse. He sees too many views, too many sides, too many “visions and revisions.” Moreover, he lacks the vital breath of life, the simple vitality I should rather say; he lacks the strength and straightforwardness to live that much simpler, coarser fibered souls have. Unlike Prufrock, I am not sure he is aware of his lack of elan vital. I refer you to Wordsworth’s sonnet, “The world is too much with us soon and late,” for a rephrasing of this condition and what is to be preferred in its place.
You have read the ABC’s prose. Have you not thought that there is something etiolated in it, like honey spread much too thin on a zweibach. There is too much leaf, too little root; cf. Yeat’s “Now may I wither into truth.” At last too much thought creates only indecision, an inability to take a stand against all comers. Larry
Hi Larry,
Thank you.
Two lines from that poem haunt me:
[i]I have measured out my life with coffee spoons
I should have been a pair of ragged claws. Scuttling across the floors of silent seas. …[/i]
The first line calls me to action in my life [with the need to make it count], while the second line is ever with me in my prayers of repentance.
For an accurate description of our post modern, post Christian times, may I also recommend [b][i]The Hollow Men[/b][/i]?