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C of E: Orthodox protest voices growing louder?

C of E: Orthodox protest voices growing louder?
There is evidence that some conservative and open evangelicals are finding common ground in engaging with church and culture around issues of sexuality

By Andrew Symes,
http://anglicanmainstream.org/c-of-e-orthodox-protest-voices-growing-louder/
July 21, 2015

The Anglican Mainstream website tries, among other things, to highlight and explain the rapid changes in cultural attitudes to sex, marriage and what it means to be a human being. We post articles which critique the ideas behind these changes when they come into direct conflict with a biblical Christian worldview, and show their inevitable consequences. And then our main focus is on how these ideas have affected the church, and particularly Anglicanism.

Parts of the church have displayed varying degrees of syncretism, that is, seeing the new philosophies as positive, and developing theology and ethics which affirm and incorporate them. While other sections of the worldwide church have rejected this as unbiblical and taken often costly and prophetic action to distance themselves from what they see as heresy, there remain a number, particularly in the Church of England, "in the middle" -- wanting to hold on to a traditional understanding of sex and marriage, but reluctant to say or do anything publicly controversial and opposed to the increasingly dominant cultural narrative.

This is for various reasons -- a failure to understand the progress of the sexual revolution in the same way as a fish doesn't notice as its water gets dirtier, perhaps. Or on the other hand, a very clear understanding of this progression; a belief that the battle has been lost, and that any attempt to oppose the LGBT agenda in either culture or church will have negative repercussions for ministry. It may cause conflict within congregations, make pastoral care difficult (as individuals feel that a critique of a wrong idea is an attack on them personally), and cause reputational risk for the church in the community, making evangelism much harder. In short, to be seen as "anti-gay" is "toxic". An understandable desire to play down conflict between the Christian worldview and the increasingly pagan contemporary Western culture, and conflict between revisionists and orthodox in the Church, has meant that much of the senior leadership has been quiet or apologetic on this crucial issue of our time about which people in the pews are crying out for clear teaching.

So it has been very encouraging to see in recent weeks some senior evangelical leaders breaking away from this pattern and giving that clear teaching.

For example theologian Gerald Bray, author of many books and visiting Professor at an American University, writes in the journal Churchman, of which he is Editor: "so warped has discussion of homosexuality become that speaking...truth has become risky". Bray speaks of "the Lie" of "the gay agenda" which stifles free speech and creates fear -- he gives Dolce and Gabbana and Ashers Bakery as examples. Bray says that "the Lie is at work again" in the Pilling Report and the setting up of the Shared Conversations: "at the heart of the Lie is the assertion that the unbridgeable chasm between those who advocate same sex marriage and those opposed to it can be overcome by a supposedly common dedication to 'mission'...the Christian church has to surrender to the world in order to reach it, which is exactly the opposite of what the New Testament teaches us."

Bray concludes soberly: "will we accept public ridicule because we are standing up for truth? Are we so afraid of disestablishment that we will compromise the Gospel in order to preserve our increasingly imaginary secular privileges?" (Bray's editorial cannot be seen online, but the Churchman journal can be purchased here: )

This strongly worded piece is significant because it comes from a publication of Church Society, which while being Reformed theologically, has been in terms of strategy, predominantly establishment-aligned, and quiet on issues of sex, marriage and family up until now.

Similarly from a conservative evangelical perspective, it is worth hearing the presentation by Mike Ovey at the Proclamation Trust's Evangelical Ministry Assembly last month.

The Principal of Oak Hill College explains in some depth the ideas, false from a biblical perspective, which have led to the recent enthusiasm about "transgendered" people. Mike identifies that we are faced with a cultural detachment from reality in terms of what it means to be a human being, and that evangelism is increasingly difficult not because Christians are failing to welcome the hurting and those who are "different", but because of the unfettered narcissism and self-deification of more and more people which demands unconditional affirmation and rejects the Gospel demand to repent and put God at the centre.

At the same time Reform have issued robust Statements expressing dismay at the Gay Pride march at York Minster and the decision of TEC to prepare for celebrating same sex marriages in its liturgies.

One might expect conservative evangelicals to say this kind of thing but in fact in many circles there has been a reluctance to address these issues publicly. So it is encouraging to see evidence of a move away from the pietism which holds that issues of sex are an internal, pastoral matter, that Christians should not seek a return to "Christendom" which is implied by any critique of the culture, and that all attempts at mission must be preceded by grovelling apologies for "homophobia".

Within the more "centrist" sections of evangelical Anglicanism there seems to be increasing frustration with revisionism, and the failure of orthodox Bishops to publicly hold the line on orthodox doctrine and ethics. In Southwark Diocese, Fulcrum-aligned and Reform-aligned vicars joined forces in February this year to produce the "Southwark Declaration", calling for an end to the Diocesan policy of appointing revisionists to senior staff posts.

Ian Paul, who inclines far more to Fulcrum and New Wine than Reform or Gafcon, says in his respected blog that he agrees with the recent Statements of the latter two groups, notes with approval the critique of revisionist theology issued by CEEC and signed by its President, Bishop of Blackburn Julian Henderson, and wishes "that more moderate voices [among the Bishops] were willing to put their heads above the parapet".

Ian Paul wonders why if, as is supposed, Episcopal silence on LGBT issues is a policy that comes from the Top, why the same does not apply to Bishop Alan Wilson. And he expresses serious concern about the clear imbalance which is emerging about the Shared Conversations, where participants holding to an orthodox point of view appear to have been marginalised (four such reflections can be found here ).

Andrew Goddard comes from a similar position as Ian Paul; very much in favour of women clergy and Bishops, and wanting to be a voice of respect, moderation and reason in favour of the historic orthodox Christian teachings on sex and marriage. In a post on the Fulcrum website he asks in the light of the number evangelicals changing their minds about gay relationships, "what might a Christian ethic of 'equal marriage' look like? How will Christians, particularly those identifying as evangelical, who support the new form of marriage articulate such an ethic? How will they encourage people to live it? How will they commend it to the wider gay and lesbian world, parts of which have supported the changes to marriage law in theory as a matter of justice but are less than fully enthusiastic about embracing marriage in practice or viewing it as making a moral demand on their own lives?"

Goddard's questions are rhetorical -- he goes on to suggest that in fact "not only has marriage been redefined but the Christian understanding of the relationship between sex and marriage has also been rejected."

Goddard's implication, that the liberal Christian endorsement of same sex marriage is ultimately a capitulation to an immoral and anti-Christian understanding of sex, is partly a riposte to the regular trolling and badgering he has received from pro-LGBT Christian activists after his co-authorship of the Evangelical Alliance book on same sex relationships. It is to his credit that he has remained true to his biblical convictions, and is beginning to attack the Big Lie which Gerald Bray identifies.

There appears, then, to be the development of a shared concern about the seriousness of the philosophical crisis around key aspects of humanity -- sex, gender, marriage, family. Will this lead to the development of a shared strategy about what to do in the face of inevitable further breakdown of doctrinal and ethical clarity in the Church of England, and further attacks on orthodox Christian conscience in society?

Andrew Symes is general secretary of Anglican Mainstream

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