(no subject)

[tree_and_leaf]

So, it looks likely that we have a new Archbishop of Canterbury - Justin Welby of Durham.* Slightly surprising, inasmuch as he isn't very experienced, but I think on the whole he's a decent choice, and there's some hope he has some administrative talent, which would not go amiss. And he does give the impression of saying his prayers, which is a good thing in an Archbishop.

I've frequently heard him described as a conservative evangelical, but I can't quite work out why. He's certainly an evangelical - it is, after all, their turn - but the conservatism I've seen less evidence of, apart from the fact that he's opposed to gay marriage, but it's almost impossible to find bishops who are in favour, and that includes people who would normally be called liberals.** Of course, that may just be a function of him not having been high-profile for very long, and I may be missing something, but it equally may arise from the media not being very good (understandably enough) at reading the subtleties of things.


*Rotten luck for Durham; he's only been in post a year, and before that they had N.T. "Tom" Wright, who though a distinguished scholar, was never actually there....

** I believe that +Buckingham (the one with the interesting but poorly laid out blog) and +Salisbury have come out in favour, but they obviously won't go any further, +Salisbury because of his marital situation (married a divorcee), and +Buckingham because he says what he thinks too bluntly.

ETA: I left the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds off the list (thank you, bookwormsarah), but the point remains. Also, I am reminded that Welby lists the encyclical "Rerum Novarum" (the one in which Leo XIII sketched out Catholic social teaching on industrial relations and the like, endorsing unions, among other things) as the greatest influence on his moral thinking. Which probably won't please Conservative (as in party politics) Anglicans, but again is a count against him being all that much of a conservative evangelical, because regardless of political stance, endorsing Papal teaching is not something that that crowd tends to do.

Comments

[kerravonsen]

Perhaps they're using the "logic" that if one is not liberal, one must be conservative.

[tree_and_leaf]

Possibly, but I'm still slightly baffled - I've read a couple of interviews with him, and he seems pretty middle of the road.

He's not a theological liberal of the old school (the doesn't-believe-in-the-bodily-resurrection type), but there aren't many of those left.

[clanwilliam]

Conservative in his evangelism, perhaps? Giles Fraser notes that he's very much about corporate and collective sin as well as personal sin.

And yeah, bad luck for Durham. Wonder who'll get that? Maybe David Jenkins will have some suggestions...

[liadnan]

Quoted JPII on companies in his speech to the banking industry in Zurich last month too (albeit only in passing). I gather he's HTB but I don't know that necessarily proves anything.

The Torygraph (John Bingham & Jonathan Wynne-Jones) it say
"Theologically, he is unashamedly part of the evangelical tradition, upholding a more traditional and conservative interpretation of the Bible than some in the Church of England.
But he is also a strong advocate of more modern styles of worship."

Hmm. 'Wrong way around' I saw someone somewhere comment.

Incidentally, isn't the diocese of Ripon and Leeds about to be merged into a diocese of West Yorkshire or summat? What happens to the spare bishop. (Well, Durham?)

[tree_and_leaf]

Surplus bishops will be got rid of through natural wasteage, I think - +Wakefield hasn't got long to go. But the legislation hasn't gone through yet - not sure if it will, as I gather there is some unhappiness in Wakefield diocese (and I can't blame them, they're not getting much out of the new arrangements).

[quinfirefrorefiddle]

Ok, so, being an American, I am constantly learning new things about the Anglican Church (seminary having taught the basic theological background you're working from but not the interesting specifics like the no female bishops thing, which that understanding of how ordination works still baffles me) but a bishop being married to a divorcee is a thing? I'm used to the Canadians thinking we're weird for insisting on no sex before marriage for clergy, but we stopped having those issues with divorce a while back. (Though reportedly a pastor gettingdivorced has to keep the bishop in the know about what's going on, but that's mostly for congregational health reasons.)

[tree_and_leaf]

a bishop being married to a divorcee is a thing?

Yes, it is, they only recently passed legislation making it possible. You still need special permission to be ordained if you're divorced, though generally people get it, unless they're on their fifth marriage and were the one to walk out every time, or something like that...

I agree with you completely about the lack of theological logic in the no-women-bishops thing (and hopefully this Synod will allow us to have women bishops), but I don't think anyone would defend it on those grounds* - it was pure pragmatism, and probably the ordination of women wouldn't have gone through without it. It is an ecclesiological trainwreck, though.

* Possibly some headshippy evangelicals, but they tend to wish we didn't have bishops anyway. No, I don't know why they're still Anglicans either.

[quinfirefrorefiddle]

Oh, we have a few bishop haters too, but luckily they mostly left about twenty years ago to make a new denomination. (When we went full communion agreement with the Episcopalians, because of the apostolic succession thing. Personally, I like getting to meet Methodist and Episcopalian bishops at ordinations, it's fun.)

[clanwilliam]

To quote Florence King on a divorced and remarried Episcopalian priest to his bishop: "Your Grace, if it weren't for divorce, there wouldn't be an Anglican Communion."

[nineveh_uk]

Henry would like to point out that his marriages were annulled, thank you very much, and he had no truck with that divorce business. Although Anne (1) and and Catherine (2) might be considered to have been divorced with extreme prejudiced...

[toft]

Thanks for this dissection of the appointment! I'm glad I know people who know about these things.

[antisoppist]

There was a long-ish chunk on The World at One which included the comment that he had a way with a soundbite, which sounds like it would be a plus, assuming he doesn't just say things for effect.