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.

[thenry]

Almost three-quarters of people do not care who becomes the next archbishop of Canterbury, new polling suggests.

https://news.sky.com/story/majority-...gests-13436109

May be because the public have given up walking a fake life of a nun or cardinal.

Originally Posted by thenry

May be because the public have given up walking a fake life of a nun or cardinal.

Or...

They don't identify with religion, so aren't bothered...


https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/god-heave...-other-nations

The UK public are among the least likely internationally to identify as religious

In 1981, 57% of Britons considered themselves religious. By 2022, this had nearly halved, falling to 32%.

[Carth]

I'm one of those that has no interest in following a religion, those that do have religious beliefs are free to have them . . . as long as they don't try to convert me

The wife also has no interest in religion, yet like many others will religiously (sic) spend stupid money on Easter eggs, quite happily blow the bank balance on Christmas cards/presents for people (many she only sees a couple of times a year), and goes every year to take part in the 'Christingle' thing at a nearby church.

Not sure if she just follows the crowd (sheep like) or is hedging her bets just in case

[Sephiroth]

The Church of England (or any church for that matter) is a huge irrelevance to life on Earth. All this was easily proved by Welby's performance, underlined by the scandals that have surfaced in recent years.

All the faiths purport to worship the same god - yet they are or recently have been at each other's throats.

Maybe there was a god who designed & implemented everything, complete with an evolution mode - but that god is long dead based on the lack of evidence for there being an active god.

So, we have these massive institutions, like the CoE and the Catholic Church, which, to my mind are massive wealth-amassing enterprises that benefit nobody to any serious extent.

But Easter & Chrimbo are now family events for most people, only a few treat them as religiously significant in the church sense.

Putting the fear of god into people was an old political trick to bring the tribes into line (I'm severely glossing here) - but Genesis is a substantially political document. I've got the Interpreter's One Volume Commentary on the Bible - a 1000 page learned work to guide me in my analysis and thoughts.

The churches have built on the 'fear of god' notion, wrapping it in all sorts of qualification such as 'god's wisdom', 'god's mercy', 'god's son', non of which can be evidenced.

And, in the UK, to make matters worse, we have had Welby and Charlie Farley, the adulterer who formally heads the CoE. I do hope that William hasn't fallen for this nonsense.