By David Rosebery, The Anglican.
Sarah Mullally’s appointment marks the end of one era—and the beginning of a faithful new one for those who remain grounded in Scripture.
With the appointment of Sarah Mullally as the next Archbishop of Canterbury, the Church of England has acted decisively in its own self-interest. She is the most progressive choice imaginable, and that was the point. The Crown Nominations Commission has been moving this way for decades, alternating between liberals and evangelicals as though theology were a pendulum that must swing both ways.
This time, it swung hard to the left. Can it ever recover?
A Line of Liberal Drift
Let’s look at the line.
Archbishop Years General Outlook
William Temple 1942–1944 Liberal, Social Gospel
Geoffrey Fisher 1945–1961 Conservative Traditionalist
Michael Ramsey 1961–1974 Liberal Anglo-Catholic
Donald Coggan 1974–1980 Evangelical
Robert Runcie 1980–1991 Liberal Catholic
George Carey 1991–2002 Evangelical Conservative
Rowan Williams 2002–2012 Liberal Catholic
Justin Welby 2013–2025 Open Evangelical
Sarah Mullally 2025– Liberal Progressive
There it is—an alternating rhythm stretching back eighty years. The Crown Nominations Commission—and King Charles, confirming—whether intentionally or not, has ensured that one side’s theology always cancels out the other’s. Every generation gets its turn.
However, with each turn, the center drifts further from its historic faith.
A Political Appointment in Ecclesial Clothing
Dame Sarah embodies every fashionable cause of the day—DEI, inclusion, gender fluidity, climate activism, intersectionality, and all the rest. To many in England, that makes her the perfect candidate. She’s the mirror image of what they imagine to be modern virtue: the anti-right, anti-anything-traditional symbol of progress.
If the Church of England wanted to elect a bishop who fit neatly into the mood of contemporary Britain, mission accomplished.
But the Church was not called to mirror the world. It was called to transform it.