So counsels Oliver O'Donovan - almost certainly contemporary Anglicanism's greatest moral theologian - at the conclusion of his A Conversation Waiting to Begin, addressing Anglicanism's debate over same-sex relationships. Contemplating the meaning for those in same-sex relationships of the mystery of the gift of the human sexuality, the reality of our sexual brokeness and the Church's calling to live out truth in love, calls for the serious patience O'Donovan urges. The moratoria called for by the Instruments of Communion and the conciliar teaching of Lambeth 1.10 provided Anglicanism with the means to exercise such patience.
While the Communion seeks to wrestle with how same-sex relationships fit into the vision of human flourishing and ecclesial life set out in Scripture and Tradition, TEC's General Convention - which has already rejected the call to exercise patience-in-communion on this matter - has unilaterally decided to reject the need for patient discernment-in-communion on another issue which raises even deeper questions for the Church's tradition of moral reflection than same-sex relationships - transgender identity.
In his response to the General Convention's actions on transgender issues, +South Carolina stated:
The whole range of transgenderism goes contrary to the gay and lesbian debate. We are abandoning all forms of givenness.
These are profoundly important words. They not only point to the significance of 'giveness' in the Church's tradition of moral reflection on sexual love (and see the Indianapolis Statement on this). They also emphasise that transgenderism raises a radically new set of questions for the Church's moral teaching, different in kind to those posed by the experience of same-sex relationships. For example, +New Hampshire's statement in the TEC House of Bishops' debate on transgenderism suggests an understanding of the physical, of the flesh, which radically overturns the Church's theology of the body:
Gender identity the particular identity of what I am is not a physical manifestation.
The issue has barely begun to be significantly reflected upon by moral theologians, by the Communion or by our ecumenical partners. TEC's General Convention, however, has seen fit to bypass the serious patience required for discernment-in-communion. +South Carolina's words - "we are abandoning all forms of giveness" - summarise not only the moral theology espoused by TEC but also its understanding and practice of the ecclesiological context for the process of moral discernment.
3 comments:
I can see that you 'YES' to the disciplinary ethos of the Covenant has informed your attitude toward these important matters of gender and sexuality that are being teased out by certain Churches of the Communion.
However, your exhortation to further patience in dealing with such matters denies the need to implement justice in the Church. I suppose Jesus would have been counselled by his Pharisee brothers to 'be patient' in his deliberate emancipation of Women in His day.
Endemic injustice needs to be recognised and dealt with - not put off until some time in the future.
The Gospel is more about human beings than it is about theology, remember, The Word became Flesh!
Fr. Ron, many thanks for your comments. Perhaps I could make a few points in response.
1. The Covenant - my support for the Covenant flows from my understanding of the Church's Christological centre, not the other way about. Discipline is an integral part of ecclesial life. We are used to discipline being exercised at a diocesan and provincial level - why not also at a Communion level? The purpose of discipline in ecclesial life is not judicial punishment but healing, penitence and restoration.
2. Pharisee - implicitly accusing those who disagree with you of being Pharisees does nothing to contribute to the serious moral and theological reflection that this matter calls for.
3. Justice - I am not sure that the privileged status you give to the discourse of justice reflects the Church's tradition of theological reflection. To take the Council of Jerusalem as a key example, the inclusion of Gentiles in the Church was decided not on the basis of justice but through a process of discerning the workings of the Holy Spirit, through the proclamation of the Crucified and Risen One, in the light of Scripture.
4. Incarnation - yes, the Word became flesh. It is this very fact which should give us pause about +New Hampshire's statement that "gender identity ... is not a physical manifestation". This does appear to demean flesh in a way that is difficult to reconcile with God becoming flesh. To put it another way, it seems to deny "the body's grace".
I always feel great discomfort when the term 'justice' is injected into this debate, as it seems to imply that those who disagree operate from motives of prejudice & nothing else. It is a rhetorical device intended to crush debate rather than foster it.
Ironically, I think it is a highly counter-productive tactic as nothing nothing is more likely to entrench someone in their position faster than stating or implying that they are a bigot.
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