The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams- the leader of the Anglican church worldwide- has personally adopted views regarding a moral grounding for gay marriage. The issue of gay marriage can be debated from the theological to the political. Yet, this article (linked above) took an interesting spin. Note the quotes below:
The article notes, "He drew a distinction between his own beliefs as a theologian and his position as a church leader, for which he had to take account of the traditionalist view."
Williams himself states, “When I teach as a bishop I teach what the Church teaches. In controverted areas it is my responsibility to teach what the Church has said and why.”
The article doesn't note how these letters became public. I don't suppose it matters if Williams is willingly quoted in the article. Williams displays at least some theological responsbility in teaching the doctrines of the church, but the fact that this knowledge is now public makes any theological comment that Williams makes on behalf of the church seem disingenuous. I respect Williams for making the distinctions listed above; there's a certain amount of theological humility he holds to teach as he does. In the end, though, one has to wonder if this is a slippery slope towards an Anglican split. If Williams holds these beliefs, it might be more likely that his successor will as well.
I won't deal with the claims Williams makes about homosexuality and the Bible. But for a good theological treatment on the subject, see Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals by William Webb.
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2 comments:
Williams is an interesting guy. I do know that since he has become Archbishop he has gotten much more conservative. In fact, NT Wright greatly admires Williams as a theologian and church leader. And of course Wright is no liberal.
Interestingly enough though, the "personal opinions" of the Archbishop in the Anglican system do not hold very much authoritative weight. He's not like a Pope (even though he would be considered the "first among equals" which is very Papal language).
One of the reasons that the Anglican Communion might split is because of authority. Because the Archbishop does not hold very much authority (it's more that "his opinion is always taken into consideration"). Personally I would like to see the Anglican Communion have more weight to authority from its hierarchical system. In some areas of the Communion (like the Anglican Mission in America....which is what I am moving towards) the 39 Articles still hold doctrinal strength and authoriative power. But the Articles are also quite ambiguous on many things. This issue being one of them. In fact to my knowledge the Articles does not talk about homosexuality at all. So then, the authority must come from somewhere else. It would be my hope that the Traditions of the church weigh in, but also other avenues of church polity influence from its episcopalean system of bishops and priests, which I would support. All in all, it's a tricky situation and we'll see what happens.
Great post!
As long as we're on the subject of homosexuality and religion, have you heard about this? http://www.washingtonblade.com/2008/9-12/arts/feature/13258.cfm
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