Bullying the Primates across the Rubicon
by Stephen Noll, Contending Anglican:
Over the past 18 months I have been writing a series of articles (here and here) employing the allusion to “crossing the Rubicon,” the occasion on which Julius Caesar committed his army to capturing Rome, with no possibility of turning back. I have argued that the Anglican Communion is standing on the edge of a Rubicon in its identity and mission, whether to depart from the clear teaching of Jesus and the Bible. In fact, some Anglicans have already crossed over, and the mother Church of England appears committed to going the same way and “ferrying” many of the Global South Provinces with it.
The Gafcon movement is standing firm on the Gospel side of the Rubicon and saying “No, we won’t go with you.” This obstinacy, especially in light of Gafcon 2018, is pushing the Communion Establishment one step further: to bully the Primates and Provinces to attend Lambeth 2020 – or else.
In particular, Gafcon is standing firmly behind the teaching of the 1998 Lambeth Resolution I.10 on Human Sexuality, which stated that God has designed two and only two ways of faithful sexuality – marriage and abstinence – and that homosexual practice is “incompatible with Scripture.” In passing this Resolution, the Communion majority, led by the Global South, spoke truth to power (i.e., the power of the Anglo-American bureaucracy) on a matter of fundamental Christian doctrine. By crossing over this doctrinal line before and after Lambeth 1998, the Episcopal Church USA ensconced heresy in its the teaching and practice and has encouraged others to do likewise.
The refusal of successive Archbishops of Canterbury, whose office is supposed to serve as the “focus of Anglican unity,” to deal with this heresy put the entire Communion at risk. Gafcon 2008 took place because Rowan Williams, having promised to discipline the Episcopal Church, reneged on that promise, and Justin Welby has continued down this same path. Meanwhile Gafcon has continued to grow and mature as its own instrument of communion, indeed one which a majority of the world’s Anglicans are now looking to.
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