by Mike Judge, Evangelical Times
Earlier today, Sarah Mullally was officially installed as the first-ever female Archbishop of Canterbury. As a non-Anglican Christian, I always find the ceremonies and rituals of the Church of England strange and alien — all those flowing robes and pointy hats. But this ceremony, in particular, had yet more to make me roll my eyes and shake my head.
Dame Mullally’s installation as Archbishop of Canterbury will no doubt be hailed in many quarters as a historic triumph — a long-awaited step in a more “inclusive” and “relevant” direction. Yet for those who take Scripture seriously, it marks not a milestone of faithfulness, but another sobering chapter in the Church of England’s steady drift from biblical authority.
We are told this moment should be celebrated because it is unprecedented. That much is true. But novelty has never been a biblical qualification for leadership. The true church of Christ does not belong to the age, nor is it tasked with keeping pace with cultural trends. It belongs to the one who died for its sake. And its ordering is given in His Word — not negotiated in response to social pressure.
In a desperate bid to appear “relevant,” the installation ceremony itself became a display of carefully curated inclusivity. There were prayers in Urdu, a hymn in the South African language of Xhosa, and even a Bible reading delivered by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster.
As if to underscore this ecumenical trajectory, the new Archbishop wore the pastoral ring presented to Michael Ramsey by Pope Paul VI in 1966 — a symbolic gesture that speaks volumes about the direction of travel. One is left to ask: at what point does the pursuit of visible unity come at the cost of doctrinal clarity?