Thursday, November 04, 2010

'Unhelpful warfare' in the C of E


BBC interview with Bishop Wallace Benn about his recent comments.

2 comments:

Joe Mahler said...

Wallace Benn is right, the gloom in Anglicanism is like 1939. The interviewer is clearly hostile to him. He explained what he by by what he said but she evidently wanted to put her Alice in Wonderland imagination into it and make what he was saying into something else. The problem is that the situation for Anglican Christians is very bleak. I get the sense to the interviewer that only the Christians in the Anglicanism have a problem other that that Anglicanism is doing just fine.

Robin G. Jordan said...

The interviewer does press Benn in hopes that he might let slip an admission that he meant more than what he keeps saying that he meant. Critics of Reform want to make more of what Benn said in order to use it against Reform and to advance their own cause. The pro-women's bishops groups trundled out their favorite catchword and described Benn's comments as "demeaning," that is, they lower the dignity of women. I think that Benn put his finger on how those opposed to the consecration of women are feeling. They see the storm clouds of war looming on the horizon and these signs of impending conflict are causing them fear and apprehension. The British in the face of immense odds adopted the philosophy of "keep calm and carry on." It may be the right attitude for our own time.