As the months have dragged by, a realisation dawned – among the faithful and bookmakers alike – that none of the senior bishops being mentioned was quite right. The field seemed just a bit, well, mediocre.
Not surprising, really: the Church pays rubbish salaries; is very out of fashion; and the female half of humanity is still excluded from consideration. Still, once anyone looked closely, one man appeared to have an exceptional range of talents and a most intriguing CV.
The Church is both appalled by money and, being short of it, fascinated by it. Here was a biblical scholar who had spent the first 11 years of his career in the oil industry: an archbishop for the 21st century. And so the 56-year-old Bishop of Durham came from nowhere to victory. Was the commission guided by heaven? We cannot know. What does seem clear is that they have given him the job from hell.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury

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