It’s striking that throughout his eight years in charge, Williams has been touring as God’s fairground boxer, willing to go five rounds with all comers. Up steps AC Grayling, next day Philip Pullman. But his fondness for quoting Saint Ambrose ”“ “It does not suit God to save his people by arguments” ”“ suggests how little store he sets by such encounters. “Oh, look, argument has the role of damage limitation. The number of people who acquire faith by argument is actually rather small. But if people are saying stupid things about the Christian faith, then it helps just to say, ‘Come on, that won’t work.’ There is a miasma of assumptions: first, that you can’t have a scientific worldview and a religious faith; second, that there is an insoluble problem about God and suffering in the world; and third, that all Christians are neurotic about sex. But the arguments have been recycled and refought more times than we’ve had hot dinners, and I do groan in spirit when I pick up another book about why you shouldn’t believe in God. Oh dear! Bertrand Russell in 1923! And while I think it’s necessary to go on rather wearily putting down markers saying, ‘No, that’s not what Christian theology says’ and, ‘No, that argument doesn’t make sense’, that’s the background noise. What changes people is the extraordinary sense that things come together. Is it Eliot or Yeats who talks about a poem coming together with an audible click? You think, yes, the world makes sense looked at like that.”
A minor nit-pick:
Why does the journalist describe ++Williams as “prodigiously learned”? I agree that he has higher academic achievements than any Anglican archbishop I can think of, but not by that much.
Leaving aside a plethora of honorary degrees (which are all very well, but not relevant), he has a doctor of divinity from Oxford. By contrast: the current Primate of Australia holds bachelor degrees in science and theology, an MBA, and a PhD in Education. The current Archbishop of Sydney has a PhD from Oxford. The current Primate of South East Asia has a PhD from Sheffield.
The ABC’s higher doctorate is certainly impressive, but “prodigiously” seems to be over-egging the pudding!
On to the substantive issue:
Why does this journalist not ask ++Williams anything about his primary job (leading the Church of England)? The mos we get is a brief reference by the journalist to the controversy over gay bishops, but no opportunity for ++Williams to comment on it. Nor does he ask ++Williams anything about the deeper issues:
* Claims from a number of quarters that the Church of England is in deep trouble, in terms of demographics, population, income and assets.
* Extension of the retirement age for its clergy (usually a sign that the retirement/pension arrangements of an organisation are under severe stress).
* Lack of clergy (in many areas, it is routine for a single priest to be in charge of five or more parishes) and many clergy being close to retiring age (even with the extension).
* Major cathedrals forced to charge admission fees.
Surely these issues might have merited at least some questions from Mr Hare, before hitting the Archbishop with questions about Iran, Libya and the music to be played at his funeral?
Well. At least with this somewhat unctuous interviewer, Williams seems not to have managed to upset anybody, for today. For that I suppose we should be thankful.