Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry reports:
Trinity School for Ministry held its 30th commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 17 at Trinity Cathedral in downtown Pittsburgh. Forty-nine students graduated, including five Doctor of Ministry, 31 Master of Divinity, five Master of Arts in Religion, one Master of Arts in Mission and Evangelism, six diploma students and one Certificate of Work Accomplished for an African student completing his studies in Africa. The Most Rev. Peter Akinola, DD, Archbishop of Nigeria, delivered the commencement address. His son, Emmanuel, was one of the graduates.
The full text is available here as a PDF file.
I am struck yet again by how much money it must take to sustain Peter Akinola’s globetrotting lifestyle.
Notice how grounded in Scripture this talk is. He shows a much deeper understanding of Anglicanism than the vapid pap foisted on us by the TEC clergy. I found this paragraph especially powerful: “Theology itself defined as the science of God that acknowledges God as the object of theology but not in any sense that God is an object lying around for our investigation. This leaves us with nothing but the Bible—God’s self revelation as the primary and fundamental basis for any meaningful theological enterprise. It is also God’s manual for man’s life. This puts in the right perspective the… Read more »
Who is he talking about? “…in the UK we hear of multi-culturalism. Championed by certain sections of the Church’s leadership who have been conditioned by the clamour for political correctness, both are said to be an attempt to accommodate all shades of opinion and practice in the church. The consequences are grave. We end up with what looks like Church but in reality is not. The authority of Scripture is put to doubt and denied. The uniqueness and Lordship of Jesus the Christ is jettisoned and our Lord is categorised as no more than one of the great men of… Read more »
“The fatherhood of God is questioned and a new vocabulary of father/mother introduced to please those of feminist persuasion.” Those liberals…like Isaiah, in the readings for this Sunday from the RCL – “Can a woman forget her nursing child…” Either it’s scriptural or it isn’t. Holding the mirror to hypocrisy is shamefully simple
The Document Author in the properties is MChambers, presumably Martha Chambers, Director of Publications
Editor, Seed and Harvest.
Peter Akinola: “From my little knowledge of scripture, ….”
Now there’s an admission from an archbishop! Sadly, it’s something he demonstrates quite frequently.
The bible points us to God’s self-communication and self-revelation, Jesus Christ. The bible is not God’s self-communication or self-revelation. To say thus is to worship a book. We do ethics/moral theology in light of Jesus Christ, not simply the bible, which contains a lot of unChristlike behavior and even prescriptions. This is indeed Puritanism that Hooker fought against, to declare the bible our manual for living.
I think Akinola’s graduation speech clearly demonstrates the new Puritan nature of so much of his conservative commitments. That would be a contextual path which he could walk openly among us, if not for his persistent and unrepentant occasions of bearing really false witness against others – believers, and sometimes unbelievers alike? – who just consistently happen to be non-conservatives. Examples? Well, let us see. Modern Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment views on human Equality and Inclusiveness are infections. Do I hear a diagnosis of vile cancer, again pending from the speaker’s lips? The conservative realignment campaign is not about new Anglican… Read more »
Archbishop Akinola talks of the historic Church… I am sorry but the lay presidency of Sydney is not the historic Church!
“This leaves us with nothing but the Bible—God’s self revelation”
With these words, Peter Jasper Akinola convicts himself of heresy.
God’s self-revelation is in the person of Jesus Christ. If Peter Jasper Akinola does not know this, he has no business being an archbishop. If he denies it (as he expressly appears to do) he is nothing less than an arch-heretic.
Malcolm, you beat me to it, but that won’t stop me! Evangelicals have accepted the Reformation error that only Scripture reveals God to us. They have deluded themselves that this has been Christian practice for the past 2000 years. It came out of the power vacuum that resulted 500 years ago when people knocked the Church off its pedestal of authority. It is nurtured by a profound mistrust of change, and the idea that, even if we think we are discerning the guidance of the Spirit, we cannot be trusted. There is a point to this, of course, and the… Read more »
Normal, mainstream Episcopalians don’t care what Jimmy Swaggart says, what Pat Robertson says, or what Oral Roberts says. And neither do they care what Bishop Akinola says. The only reason we have any interest at all here is because Bishop Akinola has involved himself with those who are trying to harm our Church and steal its assets. Bishop Akinola and the leaders of the Network are just another garden variety set of fundamentalist extremists who embarrass themselves every day(and unfortunately us by association). Yawn.
“Notice how grounded in Scripture this talk is. He shows a much deeper understanding of Anglicanism than the vapid pap foisted on us by the TEC clergy.” Well, it might appear to be grounded in Scripture, but can anything that bears such blatant false witness be said to be Scripturally grounded? Just the small portion you quoted not only commits that very sin, but also reveals the heresy already decried in other posts. Sorry, but the God we Christians worship is a Trinity, not an Anthology, he reveals Himself most perfectly in Christ, and the Bible, far from being a… Read more »
I do tire of the bearing false witness (BFW) charge. Bearing false witness is a public statement known to be false. I am glad that you have admitted to BFW with your “less than animals” statement. Now, reaffirming 4000 years of Judaeo-Christian thought on a particular activity is not bearing false witness. An example of BFW: accusations of “hatred” let alone “unbridled hatred and revulsion.” What ABp Akinola says, “We are not being responsible or faithful if we say, ‘Let us bless your stealing. Let us bless your adultery.’ When the church in the West says, ‘We bless your homosexual… Read more »
“reaffirming 4000 years of Judaeo-Christian thought on a particular activity is not bearing false witness.” I didn’t say it was, and you know it. I have been quite clear, repeatedly, that I do not find mere statement of belief to be offensive in any way. You know the things in that piece that are false, stop pretending to be all offended by something you know darned well I didn’t say. “We all know the political manipulation was used to remove homosexuality from the DSM” This is not true, and just because conservatives need to believe this doesn’t make it true.… Read more »
“he supports a compromise that might prevent the stoning of homosexuals.”
That, Robroy, is simply a lie.
He doesn’t just want to jail homosexuals. He wants to jail anyoe who proposes that homosexuals shouldn’t be jailed.
There are no Muslims in Nigeria proposing that people who are nice to gays should be stoned to death.
This “compromise” BS is a phoney excuse for an extremist agenda.
“He is proud of having drawn back from the touch of a gay man.” I had heard the “drawn back” but I had never heard your adornment to the story of ABp Akinola “being PROUD of having done so.” So I investigated. The gay man was apparently Louie Crew, himself. (See comment #9 here: tinyurl.com/3tmkga.) And here is the story in Louie’s own words: “In July 2002, I was a lector at the Enthronment of Peter Akinola (Archbishop of the Anglican Province of Nigeria)at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. Mark Sisk (Bishop of New York)… Read more »
Do you not think it false witness to claim that the Church is under attack from faithless liberals attempting to destroy Her, and undermining the authority of Scripture, especially when his tradition gives to Scripture an authority it was never meant to have? Or to claim that unwillingness to insult people of rich religious traditions by openly condemning them to Hell is “denying the uniqueness of Christ”? In short, his obvious lack of respect for the faith of Westerners, and his claims that they have no faith at all certainly are false witness. That’s the persecution myth, and it is… Read more »
Robroy, The quote referencing animals is: “I cannot think of how a man in his senses would be having a sexual relationship with another man. Even in the world of animals, dogs, cows, lions, we don’t hear of such things.” Granted, he doesn’t actually say gay people are less than animals. He does not however speak the truth. We know very well “of such things” in animals, first of all, so to suggest it does not occur outside of humanity is simply wrong, though his admittedly high level of education likely did not include much biological science. He can’t possibly… Read more »
“…is very slight, surely you can see that.” The best lies have some truth in them. I see that you deliberately distort his words into something that they clearly are not, “He calls us insane” which is most certainly what the bearer of false witness does. I hear no remorse for clear and repeated violations of one of the 10 commandments. “Do you not think it false witness…” Taking a position in public discourse that is both biblically and factually well grounded is not “false witness.” His views are biblical to the core: “For the time will come when they… Read more »
robroy: will you stop going on about Sweden! The biggest falls in church attendance in Europe are in Catholic countries at the moment: and the (morally hard-line) RC Church in the UK is declining even faster than the (morally liberal) C of E. Or do you think the problem is that banning divorce and contraception isn’t morally hard-line enough?
“Taking a position in public discourse that is both biblically and factually well grounded is not “false witness.” “ Claiming TEC is in the control of faithless people who are trying to destroy the Gospel, who don’t even believe it, and who are persecuting the remnants of the faithfull still in TEC constitutes something “biblically and factually well grounded”? Compassion for people who have been treated abominably by the Church and who, as a result of that treatment are sensitized to the hate that can easily be concealed in honeyed words is somehow wrong? Stopping to think that one’s beliefs… Read more »
Amazing…A country that robroy claims has only 1% weekly attendance at church acts so Christian in taking in all those Iraqi refugees that were displaced by another country’s leader claiming to be “Christian”.
Either the church in Sweden is truly successful at implementing the Gospel into the laity’s daily lives or christianity is truly far from Christ.
“The biggest falls in church attendance in Europe are in Catholic countries at the moment” It is certainly hard to fall much further than a 1% average Sunday attendance. “the (morally hard-line) RC Church in the UK is declining even faster than the (morally liberal) C of E.” This is is not so clear. There is the influx of eastern Europeans. Sunday attendance is and has been much higher in Catholics but mass attendance is falling but not necessarily membership. Does this represent in Catholics viewing Sunday attendance as non-obligatory like their Anglican brethren? Baptisms in the CoE have halved… Read more »
Article XXV for your elementary sacrament review today robroy.
So we repent of our sins, some of us regularly, who is to judge? Certainly not you.
robroy: a friend who is a RC priest in England was somewhat surprised to hear his bishop tell the diocesan clergy recently that they should prepare for their diocese to cease to exist within 15 years, given its current rate of decline. Reports in the press last week covered the planned mass closure of church buildings in England: a surprisingly large number of them are RC churches. Robroy, hard-line does not equal success when it comes to religion in Europe: you need to understand this. There is simply not a large constituency of moral hard-liners in Europe for twisted churchmen… Read more »
robroy, I am not talking about cohabitation. Stop avoiding the issue. There is no need to alter in the slightest your message concerning homosexuality as you understand the Scriptures to teach it. The issue is not that you say “Scripture says homosexuality is a sin” THAT IS NOT HATEFUL!!! It’s the fact that you all then must follow that up with condemnations of gay people, lies, half truths, slanders, all meant to paint us out as evil and, frankly, the enemy. How many times do we still get the accusation that we are pedophiles? It has even been made here!… Read more »
Father Mark, though I seem fixated on numbers, I would be much more happy with one Christian firmly rooted than 20 rooted in superficial soil. I don’t think the answer is to dilute or compromise the faith. A church that says, you can keep your adultery, your gambling, your homosexual relationship or your pornography but come and help us in this soup kitchen will fail. Jesus told the young, rich man to sell all that he had and follow. We need high commitment Christianity. Perhaps, the numbers will actually be lower. Uncle Screwtape complained about the batch of souls that… Read more »
“I think that one important the church needs is to control influence of the media which I see as pervasive evil influence.”
Why do you think the Church has the right to “control” anything? Whether or not there is a “pervasive evil influence” from the media, and I agree, though I suspect for very different reasons, is by the way. My suspicion that conservative religion is all about control is growing daily.
“And they spend more time surfing the net than they do conversing with God in prayer.”
And here I thought it was possible to do these things simultaneously…or that prayer didn’t require a specific time or place.
I think that some here in their continual quest of control and eternal purification on this site misspell praying as “preying”. Their frustration is evident through their number manipulation; their arrogance breathtaking. It would seem that what “family” they had was never a happy one.
THAT REALLY HITS HOME!
choirboy, I’m of the vintage that was young enough to take seriously those “Jesus of Nazareth invites you to a banquet to be given in His honour” posters that used to hang in the church porch. And I remember the growing realization that the Church no longer possessed the power over society She once had, and that this, while painful, would probably be a good thing, since going to Church for the respectability of it makes for pretty insincere Christians. I bought into all that. Conservatives, I suspect, didn’t. Declining attendance is a BAD THING, because those who don’t go… Read more »
You’re absolutely right Ford, the key words are indeed “fear” and “control”. We’re all susceptible to this (those who know me how abhorrent I am to any new liturgy), but if we don’t realize this in ourselves, how could we ever pretend to lead others in the name of Christ? But beyond this are all the talkers that put on airs of theological superiority in their attempts to belittle anybody who is trying to work their issues in a Christ-like manner. I think this morning’s gospel of Matthew 7, 21-23 says something about the talkers and doers. Someday I’d like… Read more »
Keith’s?!?! Ick. Mine’s a Black horse or an India! But, if you ever do get here, come to St. Mike’s where we have some pretty catholic beliefs, some relatively Protestant attitudes to liturgy (though we DO try, the usual Anglican complaints about the incense and all that), and a liturgy that is the Book of Abysmal Services rite in “traditional language”. There’s usually enough goes wrong that it’s not offputtingly formal, and there’s something odd about the place that just makes all of that endearing. Where are you? Current gas prices are probably keeping you close to home.