January 2003

Rowan Williams was confirmed in office as the 104^th Archbishop of Canterbury on 2 December and is due to be enthroned on 27 February ‘after a period of rest, retreat and preparation’. He is widely admired in Wales (where Anglicanism is not noted for its evangelical stance). I have heard him speak in the flesh, at a school prize-giving event at Llandaff Cathedral. My own son has shaken the holy hand! In an otherwise innocuous address he referred to the Bible only in order to make clear that he rejected its account of creation. On that evening I was amused by the number of titles various participants used in addressing the then Archbishop of Wales, including ‘Your Grace’, ‘Your Reverence’ and even ‘My Lord’. Those people are so proud now that a Welsh bishop - their bishop - has been elevated to the See of Canterbury.

Rowan Williams has qualities that are much in vogue. He is an obvious intellectual (we ‘fundamentalists’ are deemed to be unthinking!) He is from the Celtic fringe (a druid no less!), not at all in the mould of the safe, establishment figures who were his predecessors – George Carey and Robert Runcie. His hirsute appearance gives the new Archbishop an almost prophetic aspect to many uncritical minds.

But what made him in the end an irresistible choice were his views on sexual ethics. (The role of the Prime Minister in such appointments is a crucial issue and would perhaps merit separate treatment.) The appointment of Rowan Williams was welcomed by Rev Richard Kirker, General Secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement in the following terms:

‘Lesbian and gay Christians have many good reasons to believe that Rowan Williams will be our friend and an unapologetic ally… . For over 20 years [he] has eloquently advocated that Christianity and homosexuality should be viewed as wholly consistent with each other.

The Archbishop will be fully aware that there are those who will be aghast that the nation’s highest-profile and most influential religious leader has made no secret of his support for lesbian and gay people… Rowan Williams will be judged, over time, by the extent to which he is able to present homophobia as… unchristian and by how long it takes to carry the Church with him.’ 

More surprisingly perhaps, the Evangelical Alliance responded positively in July to the announcement of Dr Williams’ appointment:

‘The Evangelical Alliance welcomes what is a significant and imaginative appointment. We also applaud the decision to appoint the new Archbishop from outside the narrow ‘English’ confines of the Church of England. Rowan Williams combines outstanding scholarship with an attitude of personal warmth and an appreciation of the validity of views beyond his own theological perspective.’

Having paid tribute to George Carey for maintaining ‘the Church’s historic teachings…such as the resurrection and the uniqueness of Christ, as well as the moral imperatives of the Christian faith, for example on human sexuality and family life’, EA expresses the hope that ‘the new Archbishop will work hard to sustain these important traditions.’ There appears to be little evidence in the published views of Dr Williams to support this hope.

Garry Williams, Tutor in Church History and Doctrine at Oak Hill College, London, has written a critique of the Archbishop’s theology, published in a recent Latimer House booklet (http://www.latimertrust.org/documents/Latimertrust2.pdf). It is based on a thorough examination of Rowan Williams’ published works and statements. The concluding chapter has the following assessment:

‘He reports that his thinking on homosexuality has emerged through counselling people facing homosexual temptation. His opinion is that homosexual practice will not always be wrong for them. If he has counselled individuals accordingly then, in his own pastoral ministry, he has encouraged people to adopt a homosexual lifestyle. Certainly he has published on the subject and has thus encouraged his readers. And now his views have been reported within the hearing of millions of people, and he has taught them that God has no problem with gay sex, and that there is grace in other non-marital sexual encounters.’

[He] has been instrumental in encouraging people to engage in what the Apostle Paul regards as an embodiment of human rebellion. And where will that lead them? The same apostle tells us that if they do not turn from it in repentance it will lead them… to being shut out of the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).

Later in this magazine John Benton’s article ‘Answering the Gay Agenda’ helps us to think through  the challenges that are increasingly being made to Biblical morality and indeed the Biblical gospel.

Garry Williams is also concerned to show that Dr Williams’ views on sexual ethics are merely a  symptom of  his aberration in the fundamentals of the faith:

‘We have also to consider the understanding of sin and salvation which Williams holds. This is one which will not bring sinners to grasp their judicial guilt before an offended, holy, sin-punishing God. They will not hear of the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ bearing that punishment for sin in the place of sinners. They will instead be comforted as victims and urged to look to the ultimate victim who atoned by triumphing over human hatred.’

As for a doctrine of revelation in Rowan Williams’ writings, there is hardly one worthy of the name. He seems to regard his role as being to ask ‘uncomfortable questions’ rather than to proclaim a body of received truth. The Archbishop dismisses propositional truth as merely an instrument of power. There is no room for dogmatism, only questioning.

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