"I am very grateful to the organisers for inviting me to address this important conference, and only sorry that because of other duties I have been unable to take any other part in your gathering. . . . .I do worry a bit about the word ‘equality’ and the language of ‘egalitarian’ and so on. I recognise what is being said of course, and if I didn’t endorse that point I probably wouldn’t be speaking here now" (paper presented to "Men, Women and the Church", CBE conference in Durham, England, 9/04)
"The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church (TEC) in the United States has voted decisively to allow in principle the appointment, to all orders of ministry, of persons in active same-sex relationships. This marks a clear break with the rest of the Anglican Communion. . . . They were formalising the schism they initiated six years ago when they consecrated as bishop a divorced man in an active same-sex relationship, against the Primates’ unanimous statement that this would “tear the fabric of the Communion at its deepest level”. In Windsor’s language, they have chosen to “walk apart”." (TimesOnline 7/09)
ECUSA, PCUSA, ELCA have all followed the path outlined by openly homosexual ECUSA clergyman, [Vickie] Gene Robinson:
"I had said to them, 'It's too dangerous for you to come out as gay to your superiors, but I believe that if you work for the ordination of women in your church, you will go a long way toward opening the door for the acceptance of gay priests,"
Lenin's term comes to mind here, does it not?
N.T. Wright apparently doesn't recognize the irony of his position. Or, like many Protestants, he is willing to accomodate Scripture and Tradition to the values of contemporary society. This lax approach serves only to confuse the world about the Gospel.
ReplyDeleteRight, Alice. But they only accommodate cultural values to the extent that the current state of their ecclesial culture will allow.
ReplyDeleteAmerican Evangelicalism is testing the boundaries right now with seminaries, publishing houses and parachurch organizations flirting with the open embrace of same sex practices.
They have already abandoned both Tradition and tradition on so many points, why not one more?
Sad, but true.
ReplyDeleteOne can easily see the day when holding to the true faith will make one appear mad in the eyes of others. Will they lock us up?
Ecclesial culture that isn't tethered to Holy Tradition is merely culture with a religious veneer.