From the Revd Dr Harriet Harris
Sir, - Your coverage of the General Synod of the Scottish
Episcopal Church (News,
19 June) quoted only the few criticisms made of the Doctrine
Committee report, not the highly positive reception of it, and
omitted the Doctrine Committee's official response to the
debate.
You give some space to the Very Revd Francis Bridger, who sees
the report as falling short regarding "embodiment and
complementarity and differentiation". Arguably, in scripture and
tradition, hierarchy rather than complementarity in marriage is
more common, but the notion of becoming "one flesh" is
theologically very rich, and receives attention throughout the
paper.
The Doctrine Committee came to the view that it is difficult to
find theological significance in arguments concerning
complementarity and differentiation without reference to
procreation (paras 38f), and the paper makes fuller association
between marriage and procreation than do recent liturgical
developments.
The Doctrine Committee Report invites extensive theological
reflection on the causes of marriage as given historically and in
our current liturgies, and you do the Synod an injustice by failing
to capture its level of theological engagement, and the fact that
it voted to receive the report as helpful by 103 votes to 17.
HARRIET HARRIS
Doctrine Committee Convenor
Edinburgh University
Mound Place, Edinburgh EH1 2LX