Understanding church conflicts
The growing protests against Katherine Jefferts Schori, the new presiding bishop in the Episcopal Church, and the ongoing conflict in my own Presbyterian Church (USA) over the ordination of gays and lesbians, reminds me that we really are a nation of obligation-keepers and liberation-seekers.
My book "Balancing Acts: Obligation, Liberation, and Contemporary Christian Conflicts" defines these categories and explores these struggles. Obligation and liberation are the two major spiritual themes that animate life in America today, and most people align themselves with one of these attitudes. One group focuses on the obligations of religious life and seeks moral clarity, while the other tends to see religion as a liberation movement and stresses God's love for the oppressed.
Opponents of the new female bishop are classic obligation-keepers — traditionalists who take the Bible literally, oppose the ordination of gays and lesbians, and maintain a strong focus on moral clarity. Their approach to faith goes back to God's original covenant with Abraham, whom God promised to make fruitful if he will walk before God and be blameless (Genesis 17:1-2).
Supporters of the bishop, on the other hand, are liberation-seekers — progressives who see the language of the Bible as metaphorical, support the ordination of homosexuals, and focus on extending Christian charity to all people. Their style of religion can be traced back to Moses and the exodus from Egypt, in which God liberates his people from the oppression of Pharaoh (Exodus 3:7-8). The new bishop says "we're more interested in feeding hungry people and relieving suffering than we are in arguing about what gender someone is or what sexual orientation someone has."
My neighbor in Fairfax, Virginia, is the Rev. Martyn Minns, whose conservative Truro Episcopal Church may break away from the denomination over these issues (Minns is retiring from Truro, and has been named a bishop in the conservative Anglican Church of Nigeria). It's interesting that Minns is an obligation-keeper on sexual issues, but a liberation-seeker on issues such as homelessness -- his church founded The Lamb Center in Fairfax, which is a day center for homeless men and women. So obligation and liberation cut in interesting ways across the standard liberal and conservative categories.
I believe that obligation and liberation give us a new set of categories for discussing these issues -- one that leads to greater understanding, instead of fiercer hostility.
My book "Balancing Acts: Obligation, Liberation, and Contemporary Christian Conflicts" defines these categories and explores these struggles. Obligation and liberation are the two major spiritual themes that animate life in America today, and most people align themselves with one of these attitudes. One group focuses on the obligations of religious life and seeks moral clarity, while the other tends to see religion as a liberation movement and stresses God's love for the oppressed.
Opponents of the new female bishop are classic obligation-keepers — traditionalists who take the Bible literally, oppose the ordination of gays and lesbians, and maintain a strong focus on moral clarity. Their approach to faith goes back to God's original covenant with Abraham, whom God promised to make fruitful if he will walk before God and be blameless (Genesis 17:1-2).
Supporters of the bishop, on the other hand, are liberation-seekers — progressives who see the language of the Bible as metaphorical, support the ordination of homosexuals, and focus on extending Christian charity to all people. Their style of religion can be traced back to Moses and the exodus from Egypt, in which God liberates his people from the oppression of Pharaoh (Exodus 3:7-8). The new bishop says "we're more interested in feeding hungry people and relieving suffering than we are in arguing about what gender someone is or what sexual orientation someone has."
My neighbor in Fairfax, Virginia, is the Rev. Martyn Minns, whose conservative Truro Episcopal Church may break away from the denomination over these issues (Minns is retiring from Truro, and has been named a bishop in the conservative Anglican Church of Nigeria). It's interesting that Minns is an obligation-keeper on sexual issues, but a liberation-seeker on issues such as homelessness -- his church founded The Lamb Center in Fairfax, which is a day center for homeless men and women. So obligation and liberation cut in interesting ways across the standard liberal and conservative categories.
I believe that obligation and liberation give us a new set of categories for discussing these issues -- one that leads to greater understanding, instead of fiercer hostility.
posted by Henry Brinton | 7:09 AM
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