The Briefing: Sydney's next Archbishop

I enjoyed Paul Levy’s rollicking post on Reformation21 the other day about the current election campaign among Sydney Anglicans for our next Archbishop—particularly the bit where he referred to The Briefing as one of the unfortunate gifts that Sydney has inflicted upon the world. For a mob of upstart colonials like us, having someone from the Mother Country even acknowledge our existence causes an involuntary touch of the forelock. But to admit that we have become the means of God’s grace to the Brits by being a thorn in their flesh—this is a compliment beyond telling. (I will ask our British distributors to inflict a life-time gift Briefing subscription upon Paul as a mark of appreciation.)

But Paul’s main point was to ponder the strange business of Sydney’s imminent election of a new Archbishop. His perspective was that of a slightly bemused outsider, and I can hardly blame him for that. I sometimes find the culture of Sydney Anglican evangelicalism bemusing, and I’ve been here for all of my adult life. I thought it might be helpful for our many friends around Australia and overseas to provide an insider’s guide to the forthcoming election. Read more