A Tale of Two Bishops (Part 1)

I want to tell a tale of two bishops.  As this is Dagenham Anglican the bishops will be Bishops of Dagenham.  "Wait!" I hear you cry "there is no Bishop of Dagenham in the Church of England"  Quite right, my perceptive friend, there is not; there is only an Area Bishop named for the smaller town slightly west of Dagenham.  No, I am talking about bishops having the distinction of being made in Dagenham or at least born here.

Bishop number one in my story is Tim Stevens. According to Debretts the Right Reverend Tim Stevens, the Lord Bishop of Leicester, was born in Dagenham on 31 December 1946.  He is 63 when our story starts on 11^th January 2009.  On that day Tim Stevens was invited to participate in the BBC debate programme “The Big Question" to discuss the issue of whether women should be appointed as bishops in the Church of England.  Now, I have neither a recording of the programme nor a transcript of the words spoken.  All I do have are, possibly jaundiced, reports of it.  It seems that Sarah Finch, opposing the idea that women should be bishops, quoted 1 Timothy 2 verse 12 "I do not permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man".  It is possible that she believed this verse to be conclusive proof for her position because she sees it as "the Word of God" applicable for all time.  

Now Bishop Tim along with a number of well respected Evangelical scholars (e.g. R T France and Gordon Fee) does not believe that this verse settles it.  It seems that in the debate he suggested that it is not as simple as all that; that “For Christians ‘the word of God’ is the life of Jesus.  The Bible is the product of those who sought to understand the life of Jesus” Although this can probably do with further unpacking it does seem to suggest a rightly Christ-centred approach to the Bible.  It seems though that some associated with Sarah Finch felt they could smell heresy.  They rushed into print, or at least onto the web, to denounce the Bishop declaring "Bishop denies Scripture is the word of God".   

Questions were asked in parliament, or at least in the General Synod, the Church of England's parliament.  Dr Graham Campbell's question criticising Bishop Tim gives us a little more of what he is alleged to have said; "The Bible is not seen as the Word of God in the same way that a Muslim would see the Koran." You can imagine poor Rowan Williams in his patient way, letting out a quiet sigh of exasperation as he sought to respond gently to this heresy hunt:  

• "It is perhaps worth gently reminding Synod that the proposition that the Bible is the Word of God in the same way that a Muslim would understand the Koran to be the word of God is not to be found in the Articles of Religion and I would be rather surprised to find its compatibility with the Articles defended."

The Archbishop in this brief comment suggested that the protesters are getting it wrong if they think that our approach to the Bible should be the same as that of Muslims to the Qur'an.  I am sure that Sarah Finch and Graham Campbell would, on reflection, agree with Bishop Tim's helpful comment. We rightly do not see Bible "as the Word of God in the same way that a Muslim would see the Koran"

I remember a discussion I once had with a Christian brother veering a long way towards fundamentalism.  We considered the claim that the Bible is the "Word of God" without qualification and he came to agree, as I think all Christians do, that at the very most we would have to say that the Bible "as a whole" is the word of God.  Approaching the Bible as a whole enables us to see overarching themes in the believers’ growing understanding of the God they were seeking to draw near to. Some of us believe that it is helpful to speak about the developing theologies in the Bible helping to set a trajectory that informs our meditations on our glorious God.

Recently Dr Keith Small has written a helpful book "Holy Books have a History". In this book he explores the textual histories of the New Testament and the Qu'ran.  He contrasts the way Muslims approach the Qu'ran with the way Christians view the Bible.  He states that "even the most fundamental Christian views are qualitatively different from Muslim views, and that equating them is quite wrong”.  Keith Small from his strongly Evangelical position seems to agree with Bishop Tim and Archbishop Rowan that, for the Christian, "The Bible is not seen as the Word of God in the same way that a Muslim would see the Koran".

Thank you, Bishop Tim for helping us with this key point.  In my next post I will enlist the help of Dagenham Bishop number two to further consider Christian approaches to the Holy Scriptures.

Church of England: Evangelical, Catholic and Liberal

The Church of England, we are told on its website, is a comprehensive church.  It is called this because it is made up of Christians from differing traditions.  Some see this feature of the church as a weakness.  However on the Church of England website it is seen as a strength: http://www.churchofengland.org/about-us/history/detailed-history.aspx

“The history of the Church of England from the 18th century onwards has been enriched by the co-existence within it of three broad traditions, the Evangelical, the Catholic and the Liberal.

• The Evangelical tradition has emphasized the significance of the Protestant aspects of the Church of England's identity, stressing the importance of the authority of Scripture, preaching, justification by faith and personal conversion.
• The Catholic tradition, strengthened and reshaped from the 1830s by the Oxford movement, has emphasized the significance of the continuity between the Church of England and the Church of the Early and Medieval periods. It has stressed the importance of the visible Church and its sacraments and the belief that the ministry of bishops, priests and deacons is a sign and instrument of the Church of England's Catholic and apostolic identity.
• The Liberal tradition has emphasized the importance of the use of reason in theological exploration. It has stressed the need to develop Christian belief and practice in order to respond creatively to wider advances in human knowledge and understanding and the importance of social and political action in forwarding God's kingdom.
  
  

It should be noted that these three traditions have not existed in strict isolation. Both in the case of individuals and in the case of the Church as a whole, influences from all three traditions have overlapped in a whole variety of different ways.”

The presence of three traditions within the Church is seen as enriching it. Although it may not be acknowledged, each parish and each individual is influenced to a greater or lesser extent by each of these traditions.

It can be difficult but we are strengthened as we seek to understand and learn from those who are fellow members of the Church of England but who do not always agree with us.  At their best the conversations with fellow Christians within the Church of England over areas of difference inform and deepen our thinking and learning. Such conversation is a strength to be rejoiced in.  An interweaving takes place as we give to and receive from other approaches. Of course there are always some who insist that only their way is right and will not even entertain the possibility that those who take a different approach could have come across something of value. But the Church of England as a whole values and celebrates the conversations between those from the evangelical, liberal and catholic traditions seeing each other as fellow believers seeking to serve Jesus out of a God given love.  

This is where many of us are at in Dagenham; the conversations include believers of all traditions within the Church of England and in the other denominations in our town. United in loving Jesus we can, from this basis, begin to honestly explore areas of difference.  

In the next post I want to look at different approaches to the Holy Scriptures; how different are they? Can we grow together as we learn from them about the Lord?