Giles Fraser in The New Statesman reports on how:
The debate threw up some unlikely heroes. Foremost among them the Bishop of Liverpool, who has had his troubles of late, chiefly as chair of governors of the Oxford college, Wycliffe Hall that has made the news for sacking most of its staff and going so right wing it has been nicknamed an Anglican madrasa. But his speech steered the women bishops debate to its conclusion. The job description of bishops, he argued, was to feed the body of Christ. And yet, before the body of Christ became a metaphor for the people of God, it was a woman that fed Christ’s physical body and looked after him. Here was the Biblical argument for women bishops. Indeed - on this argument - the very first bishop was a woman. It proved the vital speech.
2 comments:
Sadly, Giles Fraser's article is incorrect. It is not the case that Wycliffe Hall has made the news for "sacking most of its staff." Perhaps we could stick to factual information instead of thinly disguised sensationalist propaganda?
Dear anonymous,
Yes, you could argue a case of journalistic hyperbole was employed here, but I think we all know what he's getting at. 8 or so academic members of the college left due to the college having become ‘openly homophobic’ and ‘hostile to women priests’ since Richard Turnbull's appointment (not my words). These figures included Elaine Storkey, formerly senior research fellow in social philosophy, the Rev Dr Andrew Goddard, tutor in Christian Ethics, and his wife, the Rev Lis Goddard, who was tutor in Ministerial Formation. Also Eeva John, the former director of the Diploma of Biblical and Theological Studies at Wycliffe resigned because she no longer had ‘respect or confidence’ in the leadership of the new Principal and the College Council.
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