The Archbishop and the Bible: a response to Archbishop Barry Morgan’s Presidential Address

Oct 9, 2016 by

by Martin Davie, Reflections of an Anglican Theologian.

The purpose of Archbishop Morgan’s Presidential address to Governing Body in the Church in Wales on 14 September 2016 is to justify the decision made by the church’s bishops to issue prayers that can be said with those in same-sex relationships. More specifically, it seeks to justify the claim that ‘the bishops have taken the step they have because we took seriously what the Bible has to say in trying to discern the will of God.’

The aim of this paper is to show why the archbishop’s attempt to justify the bishops’ action does not succeed…

…In his statement about the nature of the Bible… Archbishop Morgan does indeed challenge the authority of Scripture. This is because although he holds that the biblical writers were inspired by God he refuses to identify what they say with God’s revelation of himself as the Christian tradition has done when it has said that the Bible is God’s word.  For him the words of Scripture are simply human words which ‘cannot be regarded as being identical with that revelation especially since parts of the Bible are at variance with other parts’.

For Archbishop Morgan, then, the way in which some parts of the Bible are at variance with other parts of it is a primary reason why the Bible as a whole cannot be regarded as authoritative divine revelation.

Read in full here

[Editor’s note: the Archbishop’s sermon is in a sense ‘old news’ and not a surprise for those familiar with his views. However Martin Davie’s comprehensive analysis of Barry Morgan’s teaching is essential reading for all who want to be better equipped to understand and critique revisionist theology in general.]

Related Posts

Tags

Share This