Episcopalians appear not to value the theological tradition of the world church through the ages. Headstrong, believing themselves to be on the cutting edge of radically new Providential developments, they go their own "prophetic" way in First-World isolation, unilaterally and infallably, assuming that the backward, less enlightened peoples of the world will eventually see the light and fall in line behind them.

Of course these "backward" folk just happen to include the vast majority of the world's apostolic Christians, i.e. Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic and remaining Anglican, numbering one and a third billion people! Yet the Episcopal Church constitutes a tiny, tiny fraction of these, slightly over one thousandth the number of these continuing apostolic church people. Even so, Episcopalians have no doubt that they are right, because they possess inalienable "rights."

Episcopalians seem to shun a sacramental anthropology linked to the distinct forms of creation and to the possibility of a divine presence in and through these forms. The present row over sexuality and gender identity is but one instance of confusion in this matter.

In the Episcopal view, the unique sacramental character of heterosexual marriage is now androgynized and personalized. Christ is essentially a "person" rather than a man. Marriage is between two "persons," not between a man and a woman. Embracing and approving all sorts and conditions of humanity in the way of a unisex personhood precludes moral and theological distinctions regarding sexuality, gender identity, gender roles and gender relations.

In the Episcopal view, we are all fundamentally the "same," persons with the "same" political rights. Apparently the biology of Creation is indeed quite accidental - even random. The Ultimate purposes and design of creation are not to be discovered in and through its visible forms. Episcopalians make a strong case for earning the appellation "Gnostic:" The truth is external to creation and its distinct forms and must be discerned outside of it through special knowledge an abstract, immaterial spiritual principle (if anything so preposterous can be imagined!).

Serious attention to theological dogma, historical tradition and moral distinction are seen as expressions of a bigoted and reactive conventionality, one stuck in an outmoded and largely irrelevant past. Individualistic freedom to realize one's own life in one's own way (American independence writ small in the single person!) dominates.

In this essentially Congregationalist mentality, the idea of non-interference by foreign authority, or any authority, expressed historically in American independence from England in the 18th century and Protestant rejection of the papacy in the 16th, dominates the international ecclesial theology of Episcopalians. Authority is to be resisted unless it supports a liberal agenda that allows a polity of vigorous local autonomy, leaving all options open for reconsideration, that is, unless the option at hand happens to be a matter of authoritative theological Tradition!

All theological opinions are both tentative and relative. In fact, theology itself is precisely a matter of personal opinion, and since there are many relative viewpoints, there must be a wide latitude (17th c. Latitudinarianism) to include all of them. Therefore Truth is not really objective. This places the Episcopal Church squarely outside the continuity of the Universal Church.

Following much of Anglican tradition, concern for discerning truth is replaced by open-ended discussion where all views are of equal value and tensions are to be relaxed rather than resolved. Generality and vagueness, "smoothing things over" replaces clarity and certainty, because generality, vagueness and permissiveness have positive "inclusive" value, while clarity, certainty, limitation and authority only serve to abuse, to divide and to disenfranchise.

As a life-long Anglo-Catholic Episcopalian and with an M.Div degree as well (1970 - not ordained) I left the Episcopal Church 10 years ago (1997) in favor of the (Eastern) Orthodox Church in America. That was because I could see this crisis coming even then. I am increasingly happy that I did this.

My feeling was that I would find more peace and truth by getting out of the liberal-conservative Protestant spectrum, enabling me to participate in the full Catholic theological and ecclesial life of the Church international in historical continuity.

It seems to me that the present crisis is a particularly Protestant phenomenon, one which was bound to occur sooner or later, particularly because in the mindset of both relativistic liberal and conservative evangelical Christianity there is missing a vital element, namely the theological authority of the universal Church through the ages.

Once that is rejected, the problem of individual interpretation of scripture becomes the key issue. That can never be resolved in the liberal-conservative spectrum of Protestantism.

I am reminded of John Henry Newman's observation that "private judgment" is the greatest danger and weakness of the Protestant perspective. What is missing is the organic theological Tradition - a collegial tradition - that both embodies and assesses the scriptural heritage and thus resolves the relevance and truth of classical Christianity in a meaningful contemporary perspective, one that envisions the organic "development of Christian doctrine" (Newman) and understanding without becoming the manipulated pawn of modern or post-modern culture.

So there you have it from my own perspective. Therefore, I expect that within the next few years the Anglican Communion will simply go to pieces in many ways that are not restricted to the present crisis of sexuality. There are already wide divergences in Anglican thought regarding the dogmatic theology of the Eucharist, Holy Orders (lay presidency?), Baptism, and what is signified by the Church Catholic.

It is, I fear, a matter of a sinking ship! This inevitable tendency is built in to the nature of Protestant Christianity and especially in the age-old Anglican habit of band-aid compromises for the sake of a seeming sense of unity.

A polite, cultivated vagueness and a lowest common denominator "inclusiveness" inevitably produce these problems.

They do nothing whatsoever to solve them, for they merely put them off to a future date, like borrowing money because you can't balance your budget! I am afraid that the time has come to finally settle this long overdue account.

---John Perkins lives in Princeton, NJ. He can be reached here: johnnhperkins@verizon.net