Restoring the Bonds of Affection

Anglican Theological Review, Fall 2005 by Carroll, R William

The "data of common belief and worship," however, are themselves hotly contested. Nothing prevents someone from claiming that teaching about human sexuality belongs among these data. This is another version of the strategy of grabbing the center, here the one implied by the phrase "core doctrines" (para. 36). So long as the paradigm inherited from colonialism endures, this will be a temptation. Anglicans have "different interpretations of that holiness to which we are called, and different interpretations of the range of appropriate diversity within our union and communion" (para. 5). The Report seeks to create a process for defining limits.

Even if this process were desirable, it would at best force the conflict underground for a season. For Christians, every limit is negotiable. No thesis of theology escapes criticism, and no edict is exempt from conscientious dissent. This is part of what it means to proclaim Jesus as Lord. He alone defines the "center." No person or text can speak for him in an unquestionable way.

A better process would focus on "restoring the bonds of affection," thus continuing the process of devolution of authority that began with the end of the British Empire. In Ephesians 4:1-3, Paul identifies virtues and practices that might sustain the church in the process: "I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Ultimately, communion is God's irrevocable gift of God's own life.39

The jury is still out about Anglicanism, which is one way God shares this gift. In my view, the Report's recommendations would destroy too much that is priceless and distinctive about Anglican witness to the gospel. The future of the Communion is uncertain. Rather than attempting to preserve its unit)7 at any cost, it must be commended to God's mercy, the Spirits guidance, and the responsible use of human freedom.

2 See Edward W. Said, Culture and Imperialism (New York: Vintage Books, 1993), 52-53.

3 Compare the critique of retrenchment and centralization in Roman Catholicism under John Paul II in Johann Baptist Metz, The Emergent Church: The Future of Christianity in a Post-Bourgeois World (New York: Crossroad, 1981), 93.

4 Rowan Williams, On Christian Theology (Oxford: Blackwell, 2000), 53.

5 On "ideology criticism," see Sandra M. Schneiders, The Revelatory Text: Interpreting the New Testament as Sacred Scripture (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991), 120-121.

6 Patriarchy is intertwined with other forms of oppression. See Elizabeth A. Johnson, She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse (New York: Crossroad, 1992), 27.

7 Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, In Menwry of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins. 10th Anniversary ed. (New York: Crossroad, 1994), 14-21.

8 Schüssler Fiorenza, In Menwnj of Her, 53.