Re: [asa] The Episcopal Church's new Presiding Bishop

Hi, Rich,

Thanks for posting the statement on science and Christian faith by Bp.
Jefferts Shori. I believe this statement was originally posted on Beliefnet
as one of four statements on creationism and evolution. I hope everyone on
the list will read it.

As for your view that perhaps her scientific background will prove to be
moot because she will be spending all of her time presiding over a schism of
TEC, let me say that the view of "The Guardian" is a bit farther from the
scene than mine. The information in the article reflects as much the skill
of the dissidents in TEC to get their stuff in the mainstream press as the
truth of the matter. As the chair of a national church committee in contact
with a number of people in the Church's leadership and staff, I can tell you
that they spend a lot less time worrying over controversial issues of human
sexuality than those in the opposition (whose writings, blogs, etc. I also
read), who seem to be obsessed with it. Predictions of the demise of TEC
have been put forward regularly over the past forty years. If you are not
here in the States, I can tell you that there are hundreds and hundreds of
parishes in TEC that are alive and thriving, and whose communicants have no
intention of leaving, even if they opposed the Robinson ordination.

As for Guardian-repeated rumor that some conversative bishops may have voted
for her "as a means of accelerating the disintegration of the church," I
find that piece of "thinking" so bizzare as to wonder why the Guardian even
repeated it. The rumor is an insult to the conservative bishops in the
House, who I believe voted their consciences and what they believed to be
the promptings of the Holy Spirit. (From studying the five ballots cast in
this election, it seems clear to me that the most conservative bishops voted
in the end for the runner-up, Bp. Henry Parsley.) Also, Martyn Minns may
think that there is a difference these days between being Episcopalian and
being Anglican. I respectfully disagree. I also disagree with his view that
the Episcopal Church has chosen, in that old, tired phrase, to "walk apart."
On the contrary, we have chosen to "walk ahead." Bp. Katharine's election is
another sign of that. I also have no doubt that the Archbishop of Canterbury
will congratulate her, in his own words and not with a generic greeting.

Bp. Katharine will have her hands full, but I think she will find enough
time to move committees like mine and others in the Church to address issues
of science, technology and faith, and advance the science/religion dialogue.
But her election does force the Anglican Communion to address the issue of a
woman primate. It will be interesting to see if this election has any effect
on the forthcoming synod in the C of E over admitting women to the
episcopacy there.

Bob

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rich Blinne" <rich.blinne@gmail.com>
To: "Robert Schneider" <rjschn39@bellsouth.net>
Cc: <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Monday, June 19, 2006 8:50 AM
Subject: Re: [asa] The Episcopal Church's new Presiding Bishop

> What follows is what she believes in her own words
> (http://thewitness.org/article.php?id=1034). After the quote see why
> this doesn't matter.
>
> On sources of authority and the theory of evolution:
>
> Episcopalians acknowledge three sources of authority on questions of
> faith: scripture, tradition and reason. Our scriptures are the
> writings of the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), the Christian
> writings (gospels and epistles) and several other books called the
> Apocrypha.
>
> Tradition means the fruits of millennia living in community -- our
> ways of worship and our ways of interpreting scripture, which include
> the analogical and metaphorical.
>
> Reason implies, as one old hymn puts it, that "new occasions teach new
> duties." We believe that revelation continues, that God continues to
> be active in creation, and that all of the many ways of knowing --
> including geology, evolutionary biology, philosophy, and arts such as
> opera, punk rock or painting -- can be vehicles through which God and
> human beings partner in continuing creation.
>
> Given this worldview, we are compelled to use the resources God has
> given us. Not to use our brains in understanding the world around us
> seems a cardinal sin.
>
> As a scientist and an Episcopalian, I cherish the prayer that follows
> a baptism, that the newly baptized may receive "the gift of joy and
> wonder in all God's works." I spent the early years of my adulthood as
> an oceanographer, studying squid and octopuses, including their
> evolutionary relationships. I have always found that God's creation is
> "strange and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139). ...
>
> The vast preponderance of scientific evidence, including geology,
> paleontology, archaeology, genetics and natural history, indicates
> that Darwin was in large part correct in his original hypothesis.
>
> I simply find it a rejection of the goodness of God's gifts to say
> that all of this evidence is to be refused because it does not seem to
> accord with a literal reading of one of the stories in Genesis. Making
> any kind of faith decision is based on accumulating the best evidence
> one can find -- what one's senses and reason indicate, what the rest
> of the community has believed over time, and what the community judges
> most accurate today.
>
> That is not to say that the tradition or community understanding is
> always correct, as we might note in the aftermath of Galileo's
> discoveries. When the various sources of authority seem to be in
> tension, we must use all our rational and spiritual faculties to
> discern the direction in which a preponderance of the evidence points.
> To do otherwise is to repudiate the very gifts God has given us.
>
> ------
> This is probably all moot because +Schori will most likely be
> presiding over the schism of the Episcopal Church itself or the schism
> of the Episcopal Church from the rest of the Anglican Communion. Both
> Schori and Anderson voted for the elevation of V. Gene Robinson in
> 2003. The Guardian has good story about this
> (http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,1800899,00.html) and I
> pulled some quotes from it. Whether I am right about this or not there
> will be so much controversy that I don't see any time for her to deal
> with any faith/science questions.
> ----
>
> A statement from Lambeth Palace last night expressed no
> congratulations, stating that the Archbishop of Canterbury would be
> sending a letter to the new primate this morning. It added: "There
> will be nothing released this evening."
>
> ...
>
> But Conservative Episcopalians and opponents of women's priests were
> less thrilled. There were rumours that some conservative bishops had
> voted for Bishop Schori as a means of accelerating the disintegration
> of the church.
>
> The Rev Martyn Minns, a British-born conservative evangelical who has
> been active in opposing the church's leadership over its support for
> homosexual clergy, particularly its election three years ago of the
> gay bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, issued a statement saying:
> "It is sad. She will bring into sharp relief the difference between
> being an Episcopalian and being an Anglican. It is not clear how she
> can do anything other than lead the Episcopal church in walking apart
> from the rest of the communion. She has my prayers."
>

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Received on Mon Jun 19 10:05:34 2006