We can't learn if we think we know too much to risk being wrong
Actually, it's not the end of the world. Just Anglicanism... and we don't know it's the end of Anglicanism as we know it, it's just a distinct possibility. And, come to think of it, I do care. So to heck with the title.
Anglicanism has some tough days ahead. Will they stay together or fracture into little pieces? Anybody care to prophesy about this one? I sure won't, but I do hope they can pull this off and stay together.
Posted by
Douglas
at
1:52 PM
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* Work to understand each other
* Carefully consider new ideas
We might find that we were wrong. We might change someone else's mind. Or, we might come to understand other perspectives better, and find unexpected common ground. If you desire respectful, thoughtful discussion on difficult issues, please join in!
2 comments:
MB,
Interesting, particularly in light of the contentious issues at play and our previous thread on the Episcopal Muslim/Christian Priest (which also brings to mind the more recent Catholic Bishop urges Christians to call God 'Allah' or here).
I agree with Hylden that the issues shouldn't be ignored. His appeal to unity is understandable though I don't agree that "'independence' and 'autonomy' have no meaning" as he claims, as though unity for unity's sake is always more important.
Thanks for keeping the blog going, MB. Your use of and then refutation of your title gave me a laugh. :)
Kevin
Yeah, I read about that Catholic bishop's remarks. I'm sure his upcoming resignation will be well received in Rome.
I agree that unity for the sake of unity is a poor reason to stay together. There must be some connection to the truth. If one does not believe that the Holy Spirit has promised to guide one's Church/denomination into truth, then it can be hard to stick it out when one disagrees with what is going on. At the same time, Anglicans have for the most part avoided the almost reflexive schismatic tendencies that have split many US denominations into a thousand pieces and kept many more people from church hopping every year or two. It is sad to watch the current fissures forming.
As a side note, sometimes when thinking about the reason for divorce rates being lower among Catholics than Protestants (~20% vs. 30%), I wonder how much community continuity plays a role and whether denominational continuity has anything to do with it. Church hopping, which was so common among the evangelical community I grew up in is almost unheard of among Catholics. I suspect it is also much lower among Anglicans, though I have no direct experience or evidence to back that up. If the Anglican communion experiences major breakup, I wonder how this will impact the stability of their membership, and if that in turn might have an influence on the stability of their families.
As a second side note, the archbishop of Ugandan also has a (long and rambling) explanatory essay on the first things website.
http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=6002
MB
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