An
Archbishop Like This
Sunday
1 December, 7.10-8.00pm, 大象传媒 TWO
As
Rowan Williams takes up his post as the new Archbishop of Canterbury,
An Archbishop Like This offers an intimate look at the man who has
to unite the broad church of Anglicanism.
Poet,
scholar and family man Rowan Williams is known for his skills in
bringing people together but, even before he takes over, his views
appear to be drawing the Church towards another round of in-fighting.
An
Archbishop Like This follows Rowan Williams over a hectic six months
as the Church decides who will be the next Archbishop; through to
his eventual appointment and preparation for the new position.
He
talks candidly about his feelings over these turbulent months and
discusses his views on the issues splitting the modern Church.
"It
feels very, very stretching and quite frightening in a way. It could
quite easily fall apart into a polarised, unintelligent sort of
discussion," he says.
Narrated
by Huw Edwards, the programme observes the Archbishop as he talks
with schoolchildren in Wales, lectures at the Hay Festival and travels
to a meeting of the worldwide Anglican Communion in Hong Kong.
Insights
are provided by friends and colleagues that have followed the Archbishop
over the years including priest Angela Tilby and journalist and
best man Christopher Morgan.
The
Archbishop speaks out about how the Church should face the challenges
of the 21st century from the Anglican hierarchy whose concern with
status he sees as "profoundly anti-Christian" to politics,
dis-establishment and the Church's attitude to homosexuality.
"It
seems to me rather sad, and rather revealing, that when it comes
to sex we suddenly become much less intelligent about our reading
of the Bible," he says.
Notes
to Editors
An
Archbishop Like This is a Green Bay Production for 大象传媒 TWO.
Key
lines from the film
On
early speculation linking him to Canterbury: "Some
of the exasperation comes from a sense of powerlessness. Here are
all these people talking about my future 聳 and actually it
is mine, it's my life."
On
hierarchy in the Church: "The
Anglican Church has bought very deeply into status. It's one of
the most ambiguous elements in the whole of that culture 聳
the concern with titles, concern with the little differentiations,
the differenct coloured buttons... the rosettes on the hat, as it
used to be.
"And
there have to be points where that gets challenged. There's something
profoundly 聳 I'll say it 聳 anti-Christian in all of that.
It's about guarding position, about fencing yourself in. And that's
not quite what the Gospel is."
On
world events: "It
feels as though what lies ahead could be one of the hardest times
of the last five centuries. I can see the barbarising of our own
culture by wealth - wealth retreating more and more into fewer and
fewer hands and anarchy outside that. This is repeated on the world
stage and whole continents, particularly Africa, are on the edge
of chaos all the time."
On
Christian attitudes to homosexuality: "If
the Bible is very clear 聳 as I think it is 聳 that a heterosexual
indulging in homosexual activity for the sake of variety and gratification
is not following the will of God, does that automatically say that
that is the only sort of homosexual activity there could ever be?
"What
about those people who 聳 with prayer and thought and seriousness
and adulthood 聳 say 'I've never known anything different'?
What are we to say to them? And I don聮t know that the Bible
gives a crystal clear answer to that.
聯My
own personal conclusion is that I can see a case for acknowledging
faithful same sex relationships. I wouldn't want to talk about marriage
- it isn't appropriate language. But the Anglican Church doesn't
see things in that way. It's not going to change overnight, and
I don't change it by my own individual fiat.
聯I
just want the debate to be an honest one, with a recognition that
what at first sight seems absolutely straightforward when you look
in the Bible... when you look a bit harder, may not be.
"And
that's a principle which we accept in a number of other ethical
areas. It seems to me rather sad, and rather revealing, that when
it comes to sex we suddenly become much less intelligent about our
reading of the Bible."
On
the divergent approaches of Anglican churches around the world:
"It
feels very, very stretching and quite frightening in a way. It could
quite easily fall apart into a polarised, unintelligent sort of
discussion.
"But
there is a will not just to hang together but to go deeper 聳
to find real ways of living together, and to ask awkward questions
about what the price is in living together."
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