Conservative Episcopalians apologetic for schism
Os Guinness (a conservative evangelical cultural critic) and John Yates, rector of the Falls Church Episcopal church offer an apologetic in the Washington Post for their decision to break with the American Episcopal Church. Everything about this break yells schism. It also gives evidence of something Episcopalians and Anglicans disdain, bishops messing around in the dioceses of other bishops.
In their apologetic the two writers say it's not women in the ministry or homosexuality, but the Episcopal Church's theological apostasy. The mention five areas of theological revisionism that is not only the cause of their break, but also the Episcopal church's decline. Now there is lots of debate about all of this, and there are significant examples of growing liberal churches. In fact, it's the moderating sort that seem to have the most trouble in this polarized era of ours.
They conclude their diatribe with this paragraph:
Ah, they are with Luther! But would Luther be with them? That's a whole other question that none of us are capable of answering. My question is, why did it take you so long to leave? I mean the Episcopal Church has long had a liberal wing. I mean what do you do with Bishop James Pike? John Spong has been retired for several years. So, maybe it's not an issue of the Episcopal Church changing so much as it is that the Truro and Falls Church congregations have adopted an evangelicalism that may be at odds with what has been a big tent Episcopal Church.
I'm still not convinced. So, isn't it really the issue of women as bishops that's driving this? I'm not convinced by their apologetic, because I don't think Katherine Jefferts Schori believes all that differently from her episcopal colleagues.
In their apologetic the two writers say it's not women in the ministry or homosexuality, but the Episcopal Church's theological apostasy. The mention five areas of theological revisionism that is not only the cause of their break, but also the Episcopal church's decline. Now there is lots of debate about all of this, and there are significant examples of growing liberal churches. In fact, it's the moderating sort that seem to have the most trouble in this polarized era of ours.
They conclude their diatribe with this paragraph:
These are the outrages we protest. These are the infidelities that drive us to separate. These are the real issues to be debated. We remain Anglicans but leave the Episcopal Church because the Episcopal Church first left the historic faith. Like our spiritual forebears in the Reformation, "Here we stand. So help us God. We can do no other."
Ah, they are with Luther! But would Luther be with them? That's a whole other question that none of us are capable of answering. My question is, why did it take you so long to leave? I mean the Episcopal Church has long had a liberal wing. I mean what do you do with Bishop James Pike? John Spong has been retired for several years. So, maybe it's not an issue of the Episcopal Church changing so much as it is that the Truro and Falls Church congregations have adopted an evangelicalism that may be at odds with what has been a big tent Episcopal Church.
I'm still not convinced. So, isn't it really the issue of women as bishops that's driving this? I'm not convinced by their apologetic, because I don't think Katherine Jefferts Schori believes all that differently from her episcopal colleagues.
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