The Middle Way

This is a few days old -- well almost a week old-- but I did find this God's Politics post by Diana Butler Bass helpful. She talks about two middle alternatives -- progressive pilgrims and emergent conservatives -- who walk less defined and more nuanced paths. This isn't neutralism or disengagement, but learning to listen and work together. More I suppose of the purple way (after all we're still in Advent).

The following statement, Diana shares, was originally part of a Washington Post on-line chat.


I do not believe that there are only two sides in this dispute - I can identify five distinct groups.


Yes, there are two parties in tension: Old-line liberals and radicalized conservatives. This is the fight we most often read about in the media. However, you point out a third possibility, a centrist party that is trying to navigate between the two extremes. The extremes aren't the
whole story.

However, there are two additional groups, and these two are far less noticed. I refer to these groups (they don't have a clear "party" identity) as "progressive pilgrims" and "emergent conservatives." These two groups tend to see "issues" like this one as secondary concerns to the practice of Christian faith and are more concerned with things like hospitality, living forgiveness, practicing reconciliation, learning to pray, feeding the hungry, caring for the environment, and maintaining the Anglican practice of comprehensiveness (being a church of the "middle way"). They may lean slightly left or slightly right on "issues," but reject partisan solutions to theological problems. Both progressive pilgrims and emergent conservatives are far more interested in unity than uniformity, and they appreciate diversity in their congregations as a sign of God's dream for humanity to live in peace.

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