EGN NEWS DESK
A gaggle of conservative bishops has issued a brand new “theological imaginative and prescient” for the Church of England’s technique of discernment round problems with marriage, relationships, gender and id.
The Living in Love and Faith (LLF) technique of dialogue and discernment has turn into more and more strained for the reason that House of Bishops introduced ahead plans to introduce prayers of blessing for same-sex {couples}.
The Prayers of Love and Faith have been backed by General Synod a 12 months in the past and are at present being trialled as a part of present providers however there are plans to usher in standalone providers. General Synod will once more talk about Living in Love and Faith when it meets later this month.
‘A Theological Vision’ has been drawn up by seven bishops within the House of Bishops who’ve publicly dissented from the Prayers of Love and Faith.
They are Jill Duff, Bishop of Lancaster, Jonathan Gibbs, Bishop of Rochester, Ric Thorpe, Bishop of Islington, Martin Warner, Bishop of Chichester, Andrew Watson, Bishop of Guildford, Pete Wilcox, Bishop of Sheffield, Paul Williams, Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham.
The assertion, they mentioned, has been sponsored “on behalf of a wider grouping throughout the House and College”.
Published on Premier Christian News, ‘A Theological Vision’ calls the Church of England to “witness boldly to the gospel of Jesus Christ, figuring out and rejecting the idols and dangerous ideologies of any age”.
It opens with the expression of “a wholehearted dedication to the Nicene Creed” and says that “the Holy Scriptures comprise all issues obligatory for salvation and reveal God’s will for human life and behavior”.
“As the Articles say, what will not be present in Scripture can’t be imposed on the Church, and the Church lacks authority to ordain something opposite to God’s phrase written. We search to interpret the Scriptures guided by the Church Catholic throughout time and house,” it reads.
The imaginative and prescient assertion reiterates the historic Christian definition of gender as female and male, and marriage as solely for heterosexual {couples}, including that it’s “greater than a contingent social association”.
“As the joyful, lifelong union of female and male, the 2 types of created humanity, marriage is a dynamic signal of the saving union between Christ and the Church by the Spirit, from which our salvation springs,” it says.
“It thus represents the approaching collectively of distinction and is the right place for sexual intimacy, out of which union the miracle of recent life could also be born.”
Of singleness, the bishops say that it’s “greater than sexual self-denial” and “a optimistic declaration of the last word sufficiency of our everlasting union with God in Christ, focussed, like Jesus, on leaving religious descendants”.
The imaginative and prescient assertion invitations folks to stay in holiness and shun “self-fulfilment or self-expression”. It warns of the impression on the entire Anglican Communion of any change to the Church’s historic place, and ends by stating that the reply to questions round inclusivity and id might be present in relationship to Christ.
Tensions have surrounded LLF once more in current weeks with the resignation of the Bishop of Newcastle, Helen-Ann Hartley, as one among its co-lead bishops. The different co-lead, Bishop Martyn Snow, has determined to stay in put up.
Bishop Hartley stepped down over the appointment of conservative vicar, Dr Tom Woolford, as interim theology adviser to the House of Bishops. To ameliorate the state of affairs, the Rev Canon Dr Jessica Martin was appointed to work alongside Dr Woolford.
