The Alternative ABC?
If Gafcon is, as some have said, a kind of alternative Lambeth Conference, then the figure of is emerging as a king of alternative Archbishop of Canterbury. The Archbishop of Sydney may be a more palatable leader of the new 'Confessing Churches' than the Nigerian primate Peter Akinola. He is clearly a formidable ecclesiastical player, described by one Australian religious commentator as 'a very astute, very intelligent and able man. He is almost worshipped - what he wants he gets'.
The Archbishop is a committed moderniser in some respects -- he prefers to preach in a shirt and tie (or tie-less shirt) rather than a clerical collar, and has one of the most impressive websites of any church figure I am aware of -- but in other respects (mainly theological) he is a conservationist. The author describes him as a key player in the development of a 'new Puritanism' within Anglicanism.
Comment number 1.
At 4th Jul 2008, petermorrow wrote:Aside from the gay issue, I'm not really sure that tie-less shirts are really the issue. If that's what some Christians think modernising is, and some do, that and new buildings and PowerPoint and comfy seats, then the church is stuffed.
He might also abandon 'Most Rev.', as might other Christian leaders.
So here's a radical thought. Close the seminaries, loose religious titles altogether, wear ordinary clothes all the time, sell excess buildings (maybe all of them) and give the money to worthwhile causes, bring an end the the sub-culture (things like Christian bands and magazines) and stop and think about what the church is actually for.
Maybe talking to one another would be a good start.
As for the idea that he is almost worshipped. Even if we do away with the worship idea, Christians looking for... er, em... 'messianic' type leaders is a bad idea.
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Comment number 2.
At 4th Jul 2008, MarcusAureliusII wrote:Geeze I wish I could believe in hell. It would give me comfort to know that all churchgoers would get justice whatever their chruch, whatever their religion because that would be where they would all be going. Instead, they will just eventually die and leave their mark on the universe as important as a teardrop of water removed from an ocean. I'm sure this guy makes a bundle. As PT Barnum said, there's a sucker born every minute.
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Comment number 3.
At 5th Jul 2008, Orville Eastland wrote:Uh, isn't the Archdiocese of Sydney the only (as far as I know) predominantly Calvinistic diocese in the Anglican Communion? If that's the case, this could change conservative Anglican Theology- or perhaps this split will result in a later split along different lines...
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Comment number 4.
At 6th Jul 2008, davidjagnew wrote:MarcusAureliusII,
Why do you name yourself this way?
What right would you have to be any churchgoers judge?
You seem to make your comments out of bitterness. When you die what sort mark do you think you will you leave?
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