{"id":118606,"date":"2023-02-10T08:00:10","date_gmt":"2023-02-10T13:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=118606"},"modified":"2023-02-10T12:05:20","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T17:05:20","slug":"psephizo-ian-paul-what-exactly-happened-at-c-of-e-general-synod-on-the-prayers-for-love-and-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=118606","title":{"rendered":"(Psephizo) Ian Paul–What exactly happened at C of E General Synod on the Prayers for Love and Faith?"},"content":{"rendered":"

For me, and many other<\/strong>\u00a0\u2018orthodox\u2019 Anglicans in the chamber, one of the most heartening things about the debate was the quality of the contributions from those upholding the current doctrine. I append two at the end of this article. I do think there was a significant contrast with the speeches in support of the motion and rejecting the amendments. A large number of them focussed on the feelings of those affected, especially gay clergy who cannot express their emotional and sexual love as they would wish according to current doctrine. There is no doubt that these feelings need to be attended to\u2014but the question is whether this forms the basis for the Church to determine its understanding of the teaching of Jesus. Other speeches lifted proof texts from Scripture in some bizarre ways\u2014claiming that Jesus\u2019 offer of \u2018fulness of life\u2019 must mean that no-one should be denied a sexual relationship, or that Paul\u2019s acceptance of diverse approaches to food meant we could have the same approach to sex and marriage, even though Paul himself did not\u2014or that\u00a0Gal 3.28<\/a>\u00a0implies that sex differences no longer exist. It is hard to see how any of these arguments could form a part of the bishops\u2019 theological rationale for the Prayers.<\/p>\n

One theme mentioned several times was the idea that not being able to marry would consign a person to a lifetime of loneliness. It was rather odd hearing those who reject the doctrine of the Church elevating marriage to such a pinnacle, as if it was the solution to all our problems\u2014and very good to hear several single people saying that this was not true.<\/p>\n

Where does this all leave the process and what lies ahead for the House of Bishops? It seems to me that there is more work to do than ever before\u2014and both Synod Questions and the debate has exposed this more starkly than ever. The challenges include:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. How has the relation of sex and marriage been understood in previous statements?<\/li>\n
  2. On what grounds could these consistent statements be changed or rejected?<\/li>\n
  3. How does the Church of England engage with ecumenical statements, especially from the Roman Catholic Church?<\/li>\n
  4. What are the implications for the Communion?<\/li>\n
  5. What impact will the\u00a0perception<\/em>\u00a0of what is being proposed have on the Church itself\u2014on mission, church planting, plans for growth, clergy deployment and morale, and our work with young people?<\/li>\n
  6. If these prayers are commended for use in a church service, in what sense is that not liturgical provision? So how can we avoid needing a two-thirds majority in Synod for their approval?<\/li>\n
  7. Where did the claimed distinction between marriage and Holy Matrimony come from? How can that be sustained in the light of contrary evidence from all previous statements?<\/li>\n
  8. Why were the proposals brought under\u00a0Canon B5 (local use and decision) rather than Canon B2 (national approval<\/a>),\u00a0against the obvious legal conclusion<\/a>, when these are being offered national and commended by the House of Bishops?<\/li>\n
  9. How could the Pastoral Guidelines allow clergy to enter same-sex marriages, if the doctrine of the Church remains unchanged and ordination vows commit clergy to belief, uphold, teach, and pattern this doctrine in their own lives? How can their be any room for manoeuvre here?<\/li>\n
  10. In addition, what comments and feedback were given by members of Synod in their reflections, and what difference will that make?<\/li>\n
  11. In what context will the prayers be offered, with what rubric and introduction?<\/li>\n
  12. How can all this be squared with the consistent teaching of Scripture? This cannot be lightly set aside, since Canon A5 delineates our doctrine as being \u2018rooted in the Scriptures\u2019, and\u00a0Article XX of the XXXIX Articles<\/a>\u00a0states that \u2018it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God\u2019s Word written.\u2019<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If this is any kind of \u2018victory\u2019 for those who wanted to moved forward, it looks very much\u00a0like a Pyrrhic victory<\/a>. \u2018If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined\u2019 (Plutarch\u2019s account of Pyrrhus of Epirus).<\/p>\n

    The motion was passed, with a significant addition which explicitly limits the scope for manoeuvre, so the work will continue. But I think the cost has been immense damage to the reputation and standing of Justin Welby, the final nail in the\u00a0coffin of the Anglican Communion<\/a>, damage to ecumenical relations, a further loss of confidence in the leadership of bishops within the Church, and the first signs of fracture at local and diocesans levels. And for what gain?<\/p>\n

    Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    For me, and many other\u00a0\u2018orthodox\u2019 Anglicans in the chamber, one of the most heartening things about the debate was the quality of the contributions from those upholding the current doctrine. I append two at the end of this article. I…<\/span><\/p>\n

    Read more ›<\/a><\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":794,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,576,175,389,199,168,177,108,514,112,79,34,169],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anglican-analysis","category-civil-unions-partnerships","category-anthropology","category-church-of-england-coe","category-england-uk","category-ethics-moral-theology","category-pastoral-theology","category-religion-culture","category-same-sex-blessings","category-sexuality","category-sexuality-debate-in-anglican-communion","category-theology","category-theology-scripture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/794"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=118606"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118609,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118606\/revisions\/118609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=118606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=118606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=118606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}