Déjà vu at Anglican Conference
Commentary by Gerrit Dawson, January 20, 2004
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The close similarity with the PCUSA was eerie. I recently attend the Anglican Communion Institute’s (ACI) conference in Charleston, S.C. The president of ACI, Professor Chris Seitz, was introducing the first speaker, the Most Rev. Drexel Gomez, Archbishop of the West Indies.
As he described their shared struggle, Seitz’s voice caught. He had to pause. Instantly, I was back at the 213th (2001) General Assembly. I resonated with his passion. At stake was the very heart of the faith. To acknowledge a brother who stood strong for the truth in a losing battle, and who still boldly holds forth a flame of light when darkness is all around, brings tears to a strong man’s eyes. I know that passion. I have lived it in the discussions about the Lordship of Christ, the authority of Scripture, the sanctity of life and issues related to sexuality. These 200 Anglicans who had gathered to consider the future of the Anglican Communion were my brothers and sisters in the struggle for the truth.
At issue were the events of 2003, in which the Canadian Diocese of New Westminster sanctioned the public blessing of same-sex unions and the actions of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church of America (ECUSA) in granting local option for American dioceses concerning same-sex unions, and in the election that led to the consecration of Gene Robinson, a priest continuing in a same-sex relationship, as bishop of New Hampshire. Those Anglicans holding to the historic orthodoxy of the church are struggling to respond to these outrageous, fractious actions.
Similarly to the PCUSA’s Theological Task Force, the Anglicans have formed a special commission to study the issue and bring a report by September 2004. Meanwhile, a Network of Confessing Dioceses has sprung up, similar to the Confessing Church Movement that began in the PCUSA in 2001. The official church urges caution and restraint. The grassroots church seeks connection to discuss how to be the church faithfully when historic faith is threatened.
But there is a key difference between the Anglicans and the Presbyterians: The Anglicans are a global communion, comprised of more than 70 million Christians. At least 50 million Anglicans live in what is called the Global South, including Africa, South America, Indonesia and other parts of Asia. Moreover, this huge majority of Anglicans is historically orthodox, holding to the Scriptural and credal standards of the church universal. The rest of the Anglicans worldwide are shocked at the brazen actions of the North American Anglicans, most of whom are white, educated, wealthy, and all too cozy with the cultural values of Western society. There is pressure, then, from tens of millions of Christians who see these actions as the contemptuous defiance of Christian values by an elitist group.
After all, the assembled archbishops (primates), meeting at Lambeth Palace in October 2003, pleaded with the ECUSA not to go forward with Robinson’s consecration. The Americans, however, never hesitated. What other message can be implied than a snobbish dismissal of world opinion as not having reached the level of enlightenment the North Americans have attained?
Archbishop Gomez, however, noted that these actions proceeded without serious theological dialogue. The ECUSA has displayed “a departure from reason and sound learning” that Gomez finds simply “embarrassing.” By contrast, theologians representing what Bishop Peter Walker called “dynamic orthodoxy” have produced a compelling paper titled True Union in the Body. This work lays out the Biblical and theological rationale for marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and dissects the fallacious arguments for same-sex unions. The entire paper, however, is written in a pastoral tone and includes lovely sections on dealing with persons who struggle with same-sex attractions. Gomez noted that there has not been one serious reply to the paper. The liberals are “not interested in sound theology, but are driven by a secular agenda.”
Dr. Chris Green, from Oak Hill Seminary in England, held out little hope for the report from the special commission. “In England, commissions are established to make sure nothing happens. The commission will baptize the status quo, which is simply the mess we’re in. At the end of the year, they’ll say, ‘See, we’re all fine. Let’s just move on.'” Though not as pessimistic as Green, several other speakers made mention of the process of “reception,” in which the church lives with a new practice or doctrine to see if it can be absorbed into the common life without creating schism. Their concern is that the revisionists (those desiring this departure from ancient standards) are counting on avoiding any direct theological encounters while waiting for anger to subside as the church learns to live with these aberrations.
The parallels are all too close. Why try to change the constitution when you can simply defy it without consequence? Why answer theological challenges by scholars such as Robert Gagnon when you can just smear him as mean-spirited and turn aside? Why not establish a task force to buy time for the process of reception? When it comes time to report, simply “baptize the status quo.”
If this is indeed the case, then we already know the essence of what our Theological Task Force will report in 2006: recognize the differences among us without trying to resolve them. Put an aberrant theology and practice, that has been around only a few decades, on equal footing with the ancient and catholic witness of the Church as an issue of “fairness and inclusivity.” Then, proclaim that local option lets everyone be recognized. After all, this is what we’re doing now. So just baptize the status quo. Ask everyone to be calm while our voice grows increasingly irrelevant and our numbers shrink ever further.
We are not far behind the Anglicans if present trends continue. I only wish we were connected to a worldwide body that could call us to look up from our captivity to culture and remember the heritage with which we’ve been entrusted. Let us keep the Anglicans in our prayers. And let us watch them closely. Perhaps those who live from dynamic orthodoxy will find a way we may follow.
The Rev. Dr. Gerrit Dawson is minister of First Presbyterian Church in Lenoir, N.C. and was a commissioner to the 213th General Assembly.