It looks as though the Church of England now has a new buzz word. In the past few years the buzz word has been \u2018good disagreement\u2019 but now it appears to be \u2018radical inclusion.\u2019 In his speech at the conclusion of the debate in General Synod on the House of Bishops report on Marriage and Sexual Relationships after the Shared Conversations the Archbishop of Canterbury talked about the need for \u2018a radical new Christian inclusion.\u2019 The same phrase was then used by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York in their letter issued in response to the debate.<\/p>\n
One of the problems with the term \u2018good disagreement\u2019 was that its meaning was never formally defined and so it was difficult to be sure what it actually meant. In a similar fashion the Archbishops have not given a clear definition of \u2018a radical new Christian inclusion\u2019 either, but in their letter they appear to link it to a way forward for the Church of England that is \u2018about love, joy and celebration of our common humanity; of our creation in the image of God, of our belonging to Christ \u2013 all of us, without exception, without exclusion.\u2019<\/p>\n
There are three problems with this view of the meaning of radical inclusion. First, it mentions the creation of human beings in the image of God, but passes over the fact that human beings are also fallen. Secondly, it talks about our belonging to Christ, but is silent about what this belonging involves. Thirdly, by linking both under the rubric of our \u2018common humanity,\u2019 it suggests that all human beings without exception are not only created by God, but also belong to Christ (which is not true).<\/p>\n
In the remainder of this blog I shall set out an alternative Anglican account of inclusion that avoids these problems, drawing on the teaching of the Thirty Nine Articles and other authorised Anglican sources, as well as the work of Martin Luther.<\/p>\n