The words are ancient, yet affirmed by all who join the Episcopal Church.<\/p>\n\n
The bishop asks them: \u201cDo you believe in God the Father?\u201d New members reply: \u201cI believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The bishop asks: \u201cDo you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?\u201d They reply: \u201cI believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
There are more doctrinal questions where those came from. This covenant is based on the Nicene Creed (325 A.D.), which is affirmed at Anglican altars everywhere.<\/p>\n\n
This is good, according to one network of progressive Episcopalians, because the way to avoid a global Anglican schism will be to focus on creeds, rather than trying to agree on what the Bible teaches about sex.<\/p>\n\n
The bottom line, argues the Claiming the Blessing coalition, is that \u201cthere is no universal \u2018plain truth of Scripture\u2019 in our tradition, save that interpreted for us by the universal creeds. To claim differently is \u2026 to propose a change in the fundamental nature of Anglicanism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
But what if postmodern believers can\u2019t agree on what the ancient creeds teach?<\/p>\n\n
The Claiming the Blessing document is backed by groups such as the Episcopal Women\u2019s Caucus and Integrity, the caucus for gay, lesbian and bisexual Episcopalians. It was released after the election of a noncelibate homosexual as bishop of New Hampshire.<\/p>\n\n
While Bishop V. Gene Robinson has continued to dominate news reports, many Anglicans are trying to move on and debate more fundamental issues, said the Rev. Susan Russell, director of Claiming the Blessing and president of Integrity.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cBelieve me, I would much rather be having deep conversations about peoples\u2019 theological orientations than their sexual orientations,\u201d she said. \u201cBut anything that is about sex is, well, sexy and that\u2019s going to get attention. \u2026 Those issues are so polarizing. What we need to find is some unity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The Claiming the Blessing document is crucial precisely for this reason, said journalist Douglas LeBlanc, writing in the Episcopal Life newspaper. It has candidly underlined the \u201cclash of worldviews that is ultimately at the foundation of our church\u2019s arguments about sex. To the letter\u2019s question about whether the Nicene and Apostles\u2019 Creeds are our common confession, I must answer: I sure hope so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
But creeds only provide unity if people agree on what the words mean. LeBlanc asked, for example, if Claiming the Blessing\u2019s leaders believe the creeds are literally \u201cstatements of theological reality? <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The words are ancient, yet affirmed by all who join the Episcopal Church. The bishop asks them: \u201cDo you believe in God the Father?\u201d New members reply: \u201cI believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.\u201d The bishop asks: \u201cDo you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?\u201d They reply: \u201cI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[58,273,328,439,877],"class_list":["post-1262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anglican","tag-creeds","tag-episcopal","tag-homosexuality","tag-trinity"],"yoast_head":"\n