Bishop Alan Wilson has written My fluttering Pelagiometer.
The Anglican Covenant may well not end up accomplishing as much bad or good as it is cracked up for, but the discussion around it has been worthwhile and fascinating, and at last something of a broader debate seems to be starting up, for example Andrew Goddard and Jonathan Clatworthy, here and here. People are still, however, often picking over the bones rather than addressing the big questions around having such a thing in the first place, and it seems to me those are where the action is. Many thanks to all who have offered comment on this blog for their clarity, honesty, and will to try and understand the whole picture.
If Christians are alienated from each other, culturally, sociologically and psychologically, how high a formal fence should they erect between themselves? Enough, surely to give reflective space to both and a chance to relate their partial interests in the whole gospel picture whilst they live in tension and await, in joyful hope, a new heaven and a new earth. But temporary fencing, as low and light as possible, has to offer the best way forward if it’s relationships that count…
Episcopal Café had a useful roundup of some of yesterday’s media coverage.
In case anybody still thinks this Covenant is acceptable to conservatives, this FCA blog entry makes the position clear.
The recently retired Chancellor of the Anglican Church of Canada has written about the Covenant. See Canadian judge questions lack of clarity in Covenant language.
And for some light relief, see UFO Mission to Rescue the Archbishop.
Thanks for this. I am often wading through to much to find too little of use or sense. You have done that job ably. Thank you
Another excellent, nuanced post from Alan Wilson. John H Rogers Jr is not a member of the Anglican Communion, so I fail to see what concern of his this is.
Absolutely stellar commentary from Bishop Alans Blog: Quote: This [covenant] is a profoundly Groucho Marx place to end up. Unquote.
To many thanks for that, to ennumerate online.
“As I mention below the Covenant purports to provide a process to address questions relating to the meaning of the Covenant. Will that include questions of interpretation of the Scriptures which Churches adopting the Covenant would reaffirm as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith?” – Ronald Stevenson, Q.C. – This former Chancellor of the Anglican Church of Canada puts his finger on the pulse of a question at the heart of the Covenant process: – that of *Whose interpretation of the Bible does one accept as ‘the norm’ for the Communion Partners?* There can be little doubt that… Read more »
+Alan Wilson seems like a thoroughly sensible and humane man, which leads one to wonder how he ever got to be a bishop in the first place.