Anthropax's Old Blog

(Not including Christ Church Saint Laurence, and I hope, quite a few members of the diocese) I'd heard rumors that the Archbishop of Sydney has espoused views which could be heretical, and decided to have a little dig around, in order to find a little more out about this. I won't be looking at his alleged nepotism in appointing his brother to be a Dean, nor their treatment of the Cathedral of St. Andrew, which they seem to have withdrawn the celebration of daily Eucharist from. These few things may be of interest: "... The second argument has a much longer history, being able to be traced back to Reformation doctrines of Sola Scriptura. Under the Sydney version of this doctrine God's word is not Jesus, the Word made flesh, but the pure text of Scripture: immutable, unchangeable, absolute, and finished. Under this doctrine the Holy Spirit no longer reveals truth about God in the world; God no longer speaks to us in new ways, and we are to rely solely upon the set texts of previous revelation for information on how to live and carry on God's work in the world. There is only one way to interpret those texts - they will tell you what it is - and we should steer clear of any interpretations which make use of human reason, historical-critical method, or ongoing revelation unless we can prove them directly from other certain texts of Scripture - once again, the Jensens will tell you which ones. Perhaps this is moving towards a caricature, but again it's basically what they teach. When Anglo-Catholic and liberal Anglican Christians speak out against the leadership of the diocese of Sydney we generally do so because we disagree with some aspect of what they do - their attitude towards women or homosexual people, or their attacks on ritual and sacramental practice, or the way they plant congregations, often barely recognizable as Anglican, in other jurisdictions. Fair enough at one level, because these are presenting issues that affect real people and real Christian communities. But I think it is much more important that we realize that these actions and teachings are basically the outcome of two heresies that deny, first that Jesus is as fully God as God the Father, and second, that God the Holy Trinity continues to speak to the world through the Holy Spirit who has been promised to us as the prompting agent of constant renewal for the Church: that God still does new things. This is very worrying. As an Anglican, I feel able to tolerate people in the Church with different views on various things (even though I will challenge their views if I feel they cross a line), but this Semi-Arianism is too far. The Gospel of our Lord is super, but it is important to remember that Jesus is the Logos (word) made flesh, and not the Bible. The Bible is not the revelation from God that the Qu'ran is for Muslims, the book is a different sort of book. People must be wary of venerating the Bible as a substitute for Jesus. I'll add more to this when I have a little more time. Technorati Tag: Anglican