fbpx
Politics Foreign Affairs Culture Fellows Program

Rowan: Goodbye, Awful Job

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is stepping down to become master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. That’s got to be a relief to him. More: Explaining his reasons for leaving, Dr Williams admitted that “crisis management” was not his “favourite activity” but denied the rows over homosexuality had “overshadowed everything”. But he said: “It has […]

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is stepping down to become master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. That’s got to be a relief to him. More:

Explaining his reasons for leaving, Dr Williams admitted that “crisis management” was not his “favourite activity” but denied the rows over homosexuality had “overshadowed everything”.

But he said: “It has certainly been a major nuisance. But in every job that you are in there are controversies and conflicts and this one isn’t going to go away in a hurry. I can’t say that it is a great sense of ‘free at last’.”

Dr Williams said his successor would need the “constitution of an ox and the skin of a rhinoceros”.

The Guardian:

His time in office has been marked by a slowly growing schism in the worldwide Anglican church, which he has failed to heal. Williams has been attacked by conservatives for his liberal views on homosexuality and by liberals for failing to live up to these principles.

But he has been respected on all sides for his gifts as a preacher of great eloquence and flashes of clarity.

It is my understanding, from reading and talking with Anglican friends, that Williams is one of the great religious intellectuals of our time, a truly gifted and personally generous man. My Anglican friends generally respect his mind but fault his leadership. Speaking as an outsider to the Anglican Communion, I don’t see how the role of Archbishop of Canterbury can involve much more at this point than managing the final decline of the Church of England (which is not to say worldwide Anglicanism; the Archbishop of Lagos, for example, has a rather different set of challenges. From the Anglican Church of Nigeria website:

One of the greatest challenges before the Church today is to embark on aggressive evangelism and discipleship that will build the Church into a strong witness for this and future generations. The Church of Nigeria is now actively reaching out to the UK and the USA through the ministry of our Chaplains in those parts. Our members who visit those nations or have settled there are the major focus of our ministry, while looking out for all others who are willing to respond to the gospel. We must pray that the Lord will raise more labourers for His work. Some of these are already in the seminaries undergoing training in our institutions and we look forward to a generation of faithful workers in the Lord’s vineyard. Much attention is being given to our theological institutions through the Church of Nigeria Endowment Fund which is aimed at making the Church self-reliant financially to carry on the work of mission.

The Church of Nigeria has over the years become established as the champion of mission efforts and has maintained its reputation as the fastest growing province in the Anglican Communion. That reputation has carried with it important and challenging responsibilities not only to model biblical ethics but to condemn every compromise or departure from the position held out by the Scripture. The Church was founded through the missionary effort of the CMS (Church Mission Society) and is being expanded in like manner.

Ahem.

Advertisement

Comments

Want to join the conversation?

Subscribe for as little as $5/mo to start commenting on Rod’s blog.

Join Now