Wednesday, May 26, 2010

N.T. Wright: Marriage Isn’t Adiaphora


From The Living Church-

In his final address to his diocesan synod, the Bishop of Durham discussed the boundaries of adiaphora: what the Church has decided is non-essential to Christian faith.

The Rt. Rev. N.T. Wright, speaking to the Diocese of Durham’s synod May 21, also referred to a new pastoral letter being prepared by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Wright emphasized repeatedly that determining adiaphora is a task for the whole Church, rather than for one province, one diocese or one congregation. He also stressed that determining adiaphora is important work.

“The doctrine that some things are adipahora and some aren’t is not itself adiaphora,” he said. “The decision as to which things make a difference and which do not is itself a decision which makes a huge difference. Some of the early English Reformers claimed explicitly that they were dying precisely for the principle of adiaphora itself, for the right to disagree on certain points (not on everything). That for which you will give your life is hardly something which doesn’t make a difference.”

Wright cited two examples of what the Anglican Communion has decided are adiaphora: children receiving Communion and women being consecrated to the episcopate. He then referred to a forthcoming letter from the archbishop and added that the Church has never designated the definition of marriage as adiaphora.

More here-

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2010/5/26/nt-wright-marriage-isnt-adiaphora

2 comments:

Tobias Stanislas Haller BSG said...

The Church of England says that marriage is "an estate allowed." It is formally an adiaphoron because it is neither required nor forbidden.

Oh, wait, he's not talking about marriage, but sex. Oh, that's different.

Leonard said...

Do delegates at the Synod of Durham give three figs about this or is he just mudding the waters so the ABC can muddy the waters and nobody will be confused about what they don´t understand (or care about) anyway. I haven´t been so confused since I discovered ++Rowan is in Washington ¨Building Bridges¨ with people other than Anglicans...that ought to be an adventure into the dark of night.