From Professor Bob Holman
Sir, — Thanks to Dr Rowan Williams for ten years’ service at the top. But I am disappointed that he is withdrawing to the privileged life of a Cambridge college. Far better if — like Jesus — he had opted to be alongside ordinary people in a poor neighbourhood.
BOB HOLMAN
76 Balgonie Road
Glasgow G52 1HW
Sir, — Thanks to Dr Rowan Williams for ten years’ service at the top. But I am disappointed that he is withdrawing to the privileged life of a Cambridge college. Far better if — like Jesus — he had opted to be alongside ordinary people in a poor neighbourhood.
BOB HOLMAN
76 Balgonie Road
Glasgow G52 1HW
From the Revd Lee Gatiss
From the Revd Lee Gatiss
Sir, — Next time, could we please have an Archbishop of Canterbury who believes, and articulates both privately and publicly, confessional Anglican faith and morals?
Sir, — Next time, could we please have an Archbishop of Canterbury who believes, and articulates both privately and publicly, confessional Anglican faith and morals?
These biblical standards are well expressed in our celebrated Articles and Prayer Book, and any Archbishop needs to be capable of proclaiming them afresh. Ideally, it would be good to have one who values that precious good news above an institutional unity with those who preach what has recently been called a “shadow gospel”, which is nothing but the revisionist baptism of worldly trends and a travesty of historic Christianity.
In a confused and sceptical generation, we have surely had enough of those who think that God is like “a spastic child who can communicate nothing but his presence and his inarticulate wanting” (Rowan Williams in Open to Judgement).
LEE GATIS
Director-Elect
Dean Wace House, 16 Rosslyn Road
Watford, Herts WD18 ONY
From Mr Neil Inkley
Sir, — As the Archbishop of Canterbury announced his retirement, the headlines in the national press declared that he had fallen prey to the sexual revolution.
That, surely, is to be simplistic. Such a revolution (if that is the right word) and others like it are generally secular things, and the Church may choose to join them, repudiate them, or stand aside.
What undermined Dr Rowan Williams was that pressure groups behind several of these secular campaigns secured a dominance of the General Synod. The Archbishop often had a via media but, thus dominated, the Synod would have none of it. Finally, it voted down archiepiscopal guidance.
How does that not shift the Church of England towards being a congregational (or presbyterian) institution?
NEIL INKLEY
6 Knot Lane, Walton-le-Dale
Preston PR5 4BQ
From Mr Adrian Stott
From Mr Adrian Stott
Sir, — The appointment of the next Archbishop of Canterbury is a critical one. We need someone who can at least halve the central overhead costs (merge dioceses, halve the Synod, and reduce its activity), releasing money for parishes themselves to pay living wages and pensions for their front-line workers.
In other words, let us use the organisational model of the Early Church and current UK church groups such as the Baptist Union and New Frontiers.
ADRIAN STOTT
Burnt Oak House
East Bergholt CO7 6UN
From Mr Andrew McLuskey
From Mr Andrew McLuskey
Sir, — Surely, nothing has become the excellent Dr Rowan Williams as his recent leaving message. Departing from his usual rather oracular style, he has spoken with a positively crystal clarity. References to the "hide of a rhinoceros" and the "constitution of an ox" have the down-to-earth concrete resonance associated with the sayings of Jesus himself.
Admittedly late in the day, we seem to be seeing the emergence of an Archbishop who really can communicate in popular terms. I can't wait for the promised philippic on the Prime Minister.
ANDREW McLUSKEY
17 Diamedes Avenue, Stanwell
Staines TW19 7JE
Sir, — Surely, nothing has become the excellent Dr Rowan Williams as his recent leaving message. Departing from his usual rather oracular style, he has spoken with a positively crystal clarity. References to the "hide of a rhinoceros" and the "constitution of an ox" have the down-to-earth concrete resonance associated with the sayings of Jesus himself.
Admittedly late in the day, we seem to be seeing the emergence of an Archbishop who really can communicate in popular terms. I can't wait for the promised philippic on the Prime Minister.
ANDREW McLUSKEY
17 Diamedes Avenue, Stanwell
Staines TW19 7JE