THE editors bemoan the lack of progress made over Living in Love and Faith (LLF) and offer these essays in an attempt to hasten it on. There are 12 chapters arranged (very loosely) in six parts. In part 1, “Bible”, Miranda Threlfall-Holmes exposes patriarchy in scripture and tradition, deplores complementarity, and “explicitly reject[s] any lingering taint of historic views of men as superior to women”. Barnabas Palfrey presents marriage as a “sacrament of salvation, not a static ordinance of Creation”.
In part 2, “Church”, Steven Croft offers a “Primer in Anglican Ecclesiology”. Sixty per cent of clergy and congregations are in favour of “change in a more inclusive direction”. The remaining 40 per cent are divided into four equal groups, only one of which actively resists any change. Croft’s ecclesiology allows for “alternative ministry but not alternative oversight”, because the fundamental unit of the Church is the diocese, not the parish. John Inge traces disagreement about how scripture should be read right back to the New Testament, observing that Paul’s opponents in Galatia “had Scripture on their side”.
In part 3, “Creation”, Olivia Graham shows how Christian teaching about sex has changed over time. It needs to acknowledge homosexuality as “a naturally occurring variant on our God-given nature”. Samuel Wells re-thinks same-sex relationships from an eschatological perspective.
In part 4, “Culture”, Mark Chapman notes the bypassing of history in the LLF process. Attention to history would have revealed that in Anglican thought it was natural law rather than the Bible that “provided the substance for ethical debate” until recently. Vivian Faull withholds support for “the creation of separate structures or enclaves” because they demean women and LGBTIQ people.
In part 5, “Experience and Conscience”, Helen King asks what having sex actually means. She uses the complex relationships of Maude Royden to expose Prayers of Love and Faith “and much else in our current discussions of people’s lives, for the travesty that they are”. Gareth Wardell makes a plea, based on painful experiences of homophobia at school and in church, that clergy who want to use the prayers “should not be denied that opportunity because of the conscience of another”.
In part 6, “Prayer and Guidance”, Charlie Bell bemoans the lack of attention, in Anglican pronouncements about marriage, to its theological meanings, finding marriage to be “a reflection of a deeper truth about relationships, love, companionship, covenant, faithfulness, holiness”. Finally, Theo Hobson’s chapter, “Towards a Unified Theory of Sexual Morality”, addresses the division within “gay Anglican culture” between those who spurn monogamy and those who do not. The unifying theory is based on mutual fidelity.
The book will be rightly welcomed by a progressive readership. There is a consensus that sex outside marriage (whatever that means) can be OK, but marriage is essential to Christian sexual morality and therefore can’t morally be denied to gay people.
But the book left me with three questions. I wondered just how much of the new teaching advocated was new. Progressive Christians won’t find much they have advocated or heard already. Second, doesn’t the minimal treatment of gender minimise the scope of the problem that the editors confront? Third, aren’t the authors just too polite to confront the ideological character of the beliefs that they oppose?
Dr Adrian Thatcher is Honorary Professor of Theology and Religion in the University of Exeter, and Editor of Modern Believing.
Created for Love: Towards a new teaching on sex and marriage
Theo Hobson and John Inge, editors
Canterbury Press £17.99
(978-1-78622-669-3)
Church Times Bookshop £14.39