"The church's parliament" it may be, but the General Synod's house of laity is democratic in the pure ­Athenian sense that only a tiny proportion of the ­punters get a vote. A while ago I questioned this aspect of the setup, but gilded ones who sit in the tearoom and make our futures told me that, even using the internet, it would self-evidently be ludicrously costly and ­bothersome to have ordinary Anglicans voting. So there.

It's an imperfect system, but alter­natives could be even worse. It would not suit the English to govern the church entirely by clergy, or a clique of senior clergy, or, perish the thought, a Divine Right Supremo. Not this side of 1688. Not only do I cherish liberty, as do all of us who live in the County of John Milton, but it strikes me as exactly what Jesus assiduously told his followers not to do....

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE)

1. phil swain wrote: Is he saying that the “glorious revolution”  is a Church modeling event? February 7, 9:12 am | [comment link]

2. driver8 wrote: Not only do I cherish liberty, as do all of us who live in the County of John Milton, but it strikes me as exactly what Jesus assiduously told his followers not to do (Matthew 23:11) 1. How did this get past the sub-editor? To what does “it” in this sentence refer? 2. Of course there is a biblical model of decision making in which key leaders gather and listen to one another and to Scripture (Acts 15). In the end, James, the leader of the Jerusalem church, makes a judgment and the virtue of this judgment, is not simply process (see how they listen to reach other), but content (see how they listen to God). 3. When Peter announces that Joel’s prophecy has been fulfilled in Acts 2, “your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams” Lord, please let it be that this doesn’t refer just to the establishment of General Synod’s Standing Orders. February 7, 9:41 am | [comment link]

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