FRIDAY REVIEW

July 18, A.D. 2008

Canterbury Under Fire

But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men (some of the apostles) be put outside for a little while. Then he addressed them: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men…. I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” (Acts 5:34-35,38-39 ESV).

Much has been written about Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, shown here addressing the bishops at Canterbury Cathedral at this week’s start of the Lambeth Conference. Canterbury is the first among equals of the Primates of 38 Provinces of the worldwide Anglican Communion. He is responsible for issuing the invitations to the Conference that occurs once every ten years. Some are saying that this will be the last Lambeth of any significance in that Canterbury may well be presiding over the breakup of the Communion as we have known it.

Archbishop Williams has been under increasing fire for his leadership of the Communion since the Episcopal Church consecrated a bishop living in an openly homosexual relationship in the fall of 2003. This was done despite the last Lambeth Conference in 1998 overwhelmingly passing Resolution I.10 “upholding faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union and abstinence for those not called to marriage” as the Communion standard.  The consecration took place despite clear warnings from the Primates that this consecration would “tear the Communion at its deepest level.” 

Canterbury has been criticized on his handling of many issues ranging from his leadership on women bishops in England to his statements on Islam and Sharia law. Now he’s under attack from all sides for his ineffective leadership in resolving this crisis that has torn apart Christianity’s third largest body after the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Churches. He has been criticized for which bishops he invited to this Lambeth and which he ignored. He’s been criticized for arranging a Lambeth that is structured to avoid yet again coming to any actual resolution of the crisis.

This lack of resolution with no apparent intent to deal with the crisis head on and the presence of American and Canadian bishops supporting the new sexuality among other departures from 2,000 years of traditional biblical doctrine have led a quarter of the Communion’s bishops to stay home, to include all of the bishops from Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya. A few orthodox American bishops such as Duncan, Iker, and Ackerman are present to stand for the Truth. With the diminished orthodox presence at Lambeth, liberals are pressing their offensive for “progress” hard.

One unconfirmed report appearing in today’s edition of the British online newspaper Telegraph leads with this headline: “Archbishop of Canterbury faces calls to stop American clergy defecting.” The article asserts that liberals who are dominating the conference will push Archbishop Williams on two related points. The first is that he must put a stop to conservative American clergy leaving their national bodies and becoming bishops in African and South American churches. The second is that he must prevent the establishment of a new province in North America to rival the ECUSA. The liberals claim that such consecrations and boundary incursions go against Anglican tradition although they certainly weren’t very concerned with tradition when they put unchristian sexual doctrine into practice. Then they wanted no interference from the rest of the Communion in their internal affairs. Now they want action from Canterbury to stop what the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) has seen as necessary for the spiritual health of the Communion.

We are not surprised to see this liberal offensive to consolidate their pyrrhic victory. We will also not be surprised to see the leadership of the GAFCON Primates’ Council hold firm to their commitment to continue to offer oversight to North American orthodox dioceses and parishes and to the formation of a province in North America “for the federation known as Common Cause Partnership.”

They have not shrunk back from engaging Canterbury in a direct and respectful manner. Canterbury had characterized the work we did at GAFCON as “problematic.” Just today the seven Archbishops of the Primates’ Council responded to his remarks (www.gafcon.org). They reiterated that some leaders in the Communion clearly pursue a false gospel, deny the need to evangelize, and refuse to call Jesus Lord and Savior. They asserted the legitimacy of their commitment as a body to “authenticate and recognize confessing Anglican jurisdictions, clergy, and congregations.” And with regard to authority, they noted their respect for the concept of not crossing boundaries, but said that it cannot be absolute when false teaching is involved.

While we don’t know how soon the new Anglican province in North America will be established, we can, I believe, count on it coming into being as the Primates’ Council has envisioned.

Your brother in Jesus the Christ,                                 

Jim McCaslin+