{"id":89519,"date":"2020-02-12T16:06:47","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T21:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=89519"},"modified":"2020-02-12T17:55:03","modified_gmt":"2020-02-12T22:55:03","slug":"andrew-symes-on-the-oxford-ad-clerum-bishop-offers-orthodox-anglicans-hope-of-retaining-protected-minority-status-as-diocese-takes-reappraisingroute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=89519","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Symes on the Oxford Ad Clerum–Bishop offers orthodox Anglicans hope of retaining protected minority status as Diocese takes reappraising route"},"content":{"rendered":"

….there are several clues in the letter that the Bishop does not see his office as a guardian of the apostolic faith, or even as a neutral referee between those with opposing views, but rather as gatekeeper of a new era, ushering in a new default position of revisionist theology while continuing for the moment to tolerate those with traditional views.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bishop Colin begins by referring first not to the Bishops\u2019 pastoral statement itself, but to the Archbishops\u2019 apology for it following the media furore. He then makes an excuse for the publication of this official episcopal statement, apologises for it himself, and goes further,calling it \u201cwrong-headed and pastorally inept\u201d. Although he acknowledges that some people were in favour of the statement, seeing it as a clear expression of the church\u2019s historic teaching, he makes it clear that he, and by extension the Oxford Diocesan leadership, stand with those who oppose the statement \u2013 in fact he specifically quotes further criticisms of the statement from the Bishops of Oxford and Reading.<\/span><\/p>\n

This criticism is not just about tone and timing, but also content. Outlining why the Bishops\u2019 Pastoral Statement was needed in the first place, Bishop Colin explains it as a response to Civil Partnerships becoming available for heterosexual couples, which was simply a matter of \u201cjustice\u201d, and only raised \u201ctechnical questions\u201d for the church. This dismisses the concerns that many faithful Christians have had about the Civil Partnership legislation: how it undermines marriage, and creates obvious issues about sexual ethics that the Bishops\u2019 Statement was trying to answer.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ad Clerum goes on to quote with approval highly critical articles about the Bishops\u2019 pastoral statement in The Times and in the Via Media blog<\/a>. <\/span>It is surely significant that these pieces which fiercely attack and even deride historic Christian teaching about sexual ethics and the Church of England\u2019s attempts to navigate the issue, are commended by a Bishop, writing in a position of spiritual authority to his flock. He then makes clear <\/span>his agreement with the view that, just as the church over the years has changed its understanding on the celibacy of clergy, use of contraception and permitting marriage of divorcees, so there is nothing \u201cstatic and immovable\u201d in Christian teaching. This, together with a marked absence in the letter of any reference to Scripture or even to God (except at the end \u2013 \u201cGod bless you\u201d) will surely cause alarm as it appears to illustrate a complete loss of confidence in the idea, basic to Christianity, that faith is based on things that are unchanging!<\/span><\/p>\n

A letter genuinely trying to balance the different views would offer resources from the two sides, as Living in Love and Faith is likely to do. Bishop Colin does not do this. <\/span><\/p>\n

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

….there are several clues in the letter that the Bishop does not see his office as a guardian of the apostolic faith, or even as a neutral referee between those with opposing views, but rather as gatekeeper of a new…<\/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":[576,389,635,168,98,177,108,112,34,169],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-civil-unions-partnerships","category-church-of-england-coe","category-coe-bishops","category-ethics-moral-theology","category-marriage-family","category-pastoral-theology","category-religion-culture","category-sexuality","category-theology","category-theology-scripture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89519","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=89519"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89523,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89519\/revisions\/89523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}