Posted on 01/17/2007 6:48:35 PM PST by sionnsar
SOURCE: GETRELIGION
DIRECT LINK
Changing times are threatening for people who are directly affected by the changes. Thus, more than a few journalists are afraid of the World Wide Web and the digital era — with good reason. I mean, the entire news industry is shaking in its boots waiting for somebody, somewhere to create a form of digital advertising more winsome than the pop-up ad. Please.
However, one of the best things about the emerging world of “multi-platform journalism” is that it allows journalists to use, well, more than one “platform” or media form.
So it’s a tight news day and your story can only run 400 words. Perhaps your editor will let you run the full, uncut text of your article online (more from young master Daniel Pulliam on that subject in a few hours). Or perhaps the brilliant leader of the Episcopal Church insists that her complex, nuanced theology must be represented in a form in which readers can read each and every word that she says, so that she will not get in trouble when her critics are handed a blunt quote in a shallow forum such as the New York Times?
Remember the blunt quote in question, when the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori said the following?
Episcopalians tend to be better-educated and tend to reproduce at lower rates than some other denominations. Roman Catholics and Mormons both have theological reasons for producing lots of children. . . . We encourage people to pay attention to the stewardship of the earth and not use more than their portion.
I predict that this was the quote that loomed over the advance team during presiding bishop’s recent visit to Arkansas to preside over the consecration of the new bishop of that state. (Photo of a parish visitation there.)
(Time out: If a female bishop consecrates a male as a bishop, does that mean that the male she consecrated is really not a valid bishop in the eyes of the millions of Anglicans around the world who do not accept the validity of the ordination of women? Or did the Episcopal Church make sure that there were enough male bishops involved in the Arkansas rite so that this objection could not be raised? Or did Jefferts Schori “preside” instead of “consecrate”? Just asking. It could be an interesting news story.)
However, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette did a good thing during the Jefferts Schori visit. They had her sit down, with a recorder running, and had her grace answer all kinds of questions. Then, religion writer Frank Lockwood — i.e. The Bible Belt Blogger — ran the transcript online. Three cheers for more information!
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. Notable quotes include:
...the federal Constitution is clear about the separation of church and state...
Wrong.
But the reality also is that congregations and dioceses are structures of the institutional church known as the Episcopal Church.
No, the reality is that congregations are part of the Body of Christ, which knows no bounds. Dioceses (and TEC) are man-made organizational structures.
Money that’s given is meant to be given as an expression of gratitude, not as a tax, although people sometimes see it that way.
It's a tax, judging by the way the folks at Christ Church in Savannah were treated by their Bishop recently.
The church is thriving in so many places.
Wrong. Many folks I know from my parish have left since Gene Robinson was installed as Bishop of New Hampshire.
Those are questions that the Episcopal Church is well poised and well experienced in helping people to find answers. Not provide answers, but help people wrestle with the questions.
Well, we don’t come with a prescribed set of answers.
Oh, come on, KJS.
Now, this one took the cake:
The Anglican tradition of Christianity is world-affirming, it is focused on incarnation, and it insists that we’re not meant to shut ourselves off from the world in a pietistic sense or in a sectarian sense. That we’re meant to be in the world, and transforming the world into something that looks more like the reign of God.
KJS, your views are most definitely world-affirming, because you are in this world, and you are of this world, and you are transforming TEC into an institution of this world.
Yeah, JKS believes that it doesn't matter what you believe, you can find, no, you can create your own salvation. You can make it happen! She wants to make heaven on earth? Last I heard, that was God's job.
Next thing you know, she'll be claiming that she is the reincarnation of Jesus!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.