Acknowledging that varying and often-clashing biblical interpretations about homosexuality have led to deep divisions, the world’s Anglican bishops on Wednesday began to look deeply at how they use the Bible in the hope of finding “a high common ground” on the way they approach scriptures.
Some people “find it hard to understand why there’s so much division in the Anglican Communion,” said Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, primate of the Anglican Church of Australia and official spokesperson of the conference. “A lot of it has to do with the Bible.”
It was the first time that Anglican bishops discussed the question of “how do we use the Bible?” said Archbishop David Moxon, co-presiding bishop in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, and bishop of Waikato.
He said that the bishops’ discussions around the theme “Living Under Scripture: The Bishop and the Bible in Mission” tried to seek responses around such questions as “What is (the Bible’s) value to us? Where does consensus lie?” He said that discussions would continue in the months ahead.