I am sad that Rowan Williams is resigning as Archbishop of Canterbury. There are so few wise and thoughtful people in public life that they need to be cherished. That said, in personal terms, 10 years is enough of a martyrdom, and going into academic life is obviously going to be a great relief for him.
The "rent-a-quote" woman from the General Synod, Alison someone, commented that he didn't have great leadership skill and failed to mention "the Lord Jesus Christ" very often. Those were predictable criticisms from a moderately conservative evangelical and no doubt she will get an archbishop more to her taste next time. But I wondered about "leadership" - it's such a very worldly virtue - I wondered whether Jesus had "leadership" skills - he was clearly charismatic - but there's a sense that "leadership" wasn't a priority for him. Also, when it came to the crunch, everyone ran away - and of course, he recognised that you couldn't make people follow you - that's what that verse about "shake the dust from your feet" means to me - if people won't listen to you, don't waste time with them.
It would be impossible for anyone to lead the CofE in a traditional way - it is so divided that it is impossible to imagine a unifying figure - Jesus himself would find it a bit of a job. How can you lead people in the same direction when they are straying off to belt each other and argue with each other?
As for "the Lord Jesus Christ" - well, that lack of familiarity with him, giving him the full title suggests something vaguely uncomfortable to me - like Catholics who say "the Blessed Virgin Mary" in conversation. It shows reverence of course - but not intimacy - and when people are "showing reverence" in their everyday speech in what seems an unnatural way then one wonders if they are trying to impress their own piety on you. Or setting themselves up as a better Christian or whatever than people who don't. Reverence should be a private thing - the language is the language of prayer - not everyday discourse I feel.
This Alison is not much older than me, and is probably not a convert like me, and this may just be her style, but if she is talking for the Church, she needs to think how she is presenting it - and, implicitly, Jesus.
Anyway, Rowan has been the best Archbishop of my time, and I could not hope for a better one, sad to think there are probably only 3 or 5 more left in my life... I doubt if there'll be another like him.
The "rent-a-quote" woman from the General Synod, Alison someone, commented that he didn't have great leadership skill and failed to mention "the Lord Jesus Christ" very often. Those were predictable criticisms from a moderately conservative evangelical and no doubt she will get an archbishop more to her taste next time. But I wondered about "leadership" - it's such a very worldly virtue - I wondered whether Jesus had "leadership" skills - he was clearly charismatic - but there's a sense that "leadership" wasn't a priority for him. Also, when it came to the crunch, everyone ran away - and of course, he recognised that you couldn't make people follow you - that's what that verse about "shake the dust from your feet" means to me - if people won't listen to you, don't waste time with them.
It would be impossible for anyone to lead the CofE in a traditional way - it is so divided that it is impossible to imagine a unifying figure - Jesus himself would find it a bit of a job. How can you lead people in the same direction when they are straying off to belt each other and argue with each other?
As for "the Lord Jesus Christ" - well, that lack of familiarity with him, giving him the full title suggests something vaguely uncomfortable to me - like Catholics who say "the Blessed Virgin Mary" in conversation. It shows reverence of course - but not intimacy - and when people are "showing reverence" in their everyday speech in what seems an unnatural way then one wonders if they are trying to impress their own piety on you. Or setting themselves up as a better Christian or whatever than people who don't. Reverence should be a private thing - the language is the language of prayer - not everyday discourse I feel.
This Alison is not much older than me, and is probably not a convert like me, and this may just be her style, but if she is talking for the Church, she needs to think how she is presenting it - and, implicitly, Jesus.
Anyway, Rowan has been the best Archbishop of my time, and I could not hope for a better one, sad to think there are probably only 3 or 5 more left in my life... I doubt if there'll be another like him.
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