Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigns over Church abuse scandal

Originally Posted by Pierre

I thought the King was ultimately the head of the Anglican Church?

Isn't it similar to how the King is the head of the UK but everyone understands the power and administrative duty resides in No 10?

Although I am not sure how that works for Anglicans outside of the UK

Charlie is the ‘titular’ head of the Church of England. He is officially the Supreme Governor, but that’s largely a formal position without executive authority. He does have the right to appoint a new ABC under a 16th century act of parliament but in practice that’s just another one of his powers exercised for him by the government and the government in turn has an appointments commission - although in practice that commission is operated by senior clerics from the church.

The commission votes on a nominee and provided that individual has two-thirds of the commission on board the individual is recommended to the PM. Interestingly, had Rishi been the PM, despite being a Hindu he seemingly would have been able to then approach the candidate and ask them if they want the job, whereas had he been a Catholic or a Jew he would not.

[tweetiepooh]

My prayer is that they elect someone who isn't some liberal thinking, wooly minded man who ignores scripture for some social agenda. Reformed and evangelical is the way to go, especially to keep the African and Asian branches as well as the more conservative "locals" onboard.

Originally Posted by tweetiepooh

My prayer is that they elect someone who isn't some liberal thinking, wooly minded man who ignores scripture for some social agenda. Reformed and evangelical is the way to go, especially to keep the African and Asian branches as well as the more conservative "locals" onboard.

Depends what you mean by ‘Reformed’. If you’re hankering after a capital R Calvinist, no chance (and a good thing too). Five-points Calvinism is absurd, and for all its faults the Church of England has thankfully never had much truck with it.

As for evangelical - well, possibly, but as Welby was an evangelical the liberals may feel it’s there turn again.

[ianch99]

Originally Posted by tweetiepooh

My prayer is that they elect someone who isn't some liberal thinking, wooly minded man who ignores scripture for some social agenda. Reformed and evangelical is the way to go, especially to keep the African and Asian branches as well as the more conservative "locals" onboard.

Define "liberal thinking"? From what I know of scripture, Jesus was a hell of a liberal and the opposite of a conservative

Originally Posted by ianch99

Define "liberal thinking"? From what I know of scripture, Jesus was a hell of a liberal and the opposite of a conservative

I’m fairly certain he means theologically liberal, not socially liberal. Liberal theology is things like denying miracles, late-dating prophecies, reinterpreting classical moral theology in modern society, etc. etc. Especially popular from the late 19th century onwards. Former ABC Rowan Williams is a bit of a beardy liberal theologian.

Though I’d be careful about trying to pin modern political terms like ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’ on Jesus - not least because he walked the earth in an utterly different time where the societal structures within which we express our liberalism or conservatism simply didn’t exist. In any case, he’s not so easily defined.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by ianch99

Define "liberal thinking"? From what I know of scripture, Jesus was a hell of a liberal and the opposite of a conservative

I don’t think either of those terms can be transposed to society two thousand years ago.

[ianch99]

Originally Posted by Chris

I’m fairly certain he means theologically liberal, not socially liberal. Liberal theology is things like denying miracles, late-dating prophecies, reinterpreting classical moral theology in modern society, etc. etc. Especially popular from the late 19th century onwards. Former ABC Rowan Williams is a bit of a beardy liberal theologian.

Though I’d be careful about trying to pin modern political terms like ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’ on Jesus - not least because he walked the earth in an utterly different time where the societal structures within which we express our liberalism or conservatism simply didn’t exist. In any case, he’s not so easily defined.

Thank you for the realignment of the context, I appreciate it. However, I would say that you can take away the modern political terms and still arrive at the objective conclusion that Jesus, as documented in scripture, was more more interested in helping people that today's political conservatives would object to.

The reason why this is relevant is that theology and its application to today's Church can never be divorced from the role of the Church wishes to play in society. A theological vacuum is meaningless in this sense.