All of this can be summed up in a word which, though often misunderstood, denotes an elusive sixth element which might hold the key: authority. The Anglican Communion does not have a Pope, or any system that corresponds to the authority structure and canonical organization of the Roman Catholic Church. The Anglican Communion has always declared that its supreme authority is scripture. (The Windsor Report)

Within Anglicanism, scripture has always been recognized as the Church's supreme authority, and as such ought to be seen as a focus and means of unity. The emphasis on scripture grew not least from the insistence of the early Anglican reformers on the importance of the Bible and the Fathers over against what they saw as illegitimate mediaeval developments; it was part of their appeal to ancient undivided Christian faith and life.

The notion of the authority of the triune God, exercised through scripture, came into question here at a conference of Anglican leaders at Auckland's Holy Trinity Cathedral where some 80 are gathered to consider a number of resolutions not least among them is the place of the Bible in the Life of the Church (BILC).

The question of how this has been exercised around the Anglican Communion and in the life of various liberal provinces has been the source of deep discontent especially over the thorny issue of human sexuality. The implications have had far reaching implications for Anglicans, globally highlighted at the 1998 Lambeth Conference with the passage of resolution 1:10.

The issue of sexuality and the Bible won't go away. The mostly liberal archbishops, bishops, clergy and laity meeting here in Auckland (ACC-15) have again tasked themselves with finding common ground on both the Bible and its interpretation.

Under the heading Deep Engagement, Fresh Discovery they identified 10 themes and seven principles (eg: 'Principle 1 - Christ is the living Word of God.') for its use. From the reports of regional groups which fed into the project, four broad conclusions have been drawn:

Firstly, across the Communion "there is clear evidence of the impact made on the lives of our communities and individuals by engaging with Scripture." Secondly, there is "a wonderful diversity of ways of what 'engaging with and interpreting the Scripture' looks like." Thirdly, it is clear that the context in which the engagement takes place generates further diversity in the approach to and application of the Scripture. Fourthly, there is also evidence of "gaps" between what might be called the "received wisdom" of the Church (about Scripture) ... and what actually happens in practice. Those gaps include, for example, the one between "the academy and the pew", or the scholar and the ordinary Christian.

Following a presentation of the report, the ACC members discussed sections of it at their tables. During a period of open discussion, the Episcopal Church ACC member Josephine Hicks, a committed lesbian it should be noted, told the plenary that her group realized if individuals come to different interpretations after reading the same Bible passage, "it doesn't make my interpretation right and your interpretation wrong; we can both be enriched by each other's interpretations."

Now it is convenient for her to say that because she does not want to hear more biblically astute Anglican leaders, especially from the Global South, say that the church's teaching on human sexuality, for example, has not changed in 2,000 years and the 21st century Anglican Communion has no business changing either Scripture or the received teaching of the church on human sexual behavior.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams steered clear of any issue of interpretation and wrote in the project's report that he hopes it will bring to the communion a "wider and fuller biblical literacy, in which the outlines of the one great story of creation and redemption will be clear.

"To be a biblical church is surely to be a community that lives out this great story day by day and commends it to people everywhere as the most comprehensive truth possible about the nature of God and God's world," he wrote.

All well and good, but he only dodged the bullet that some future Archbishop will have to take when the issue comes up again.

The three-year-old Bible in the Life of the Church project has found "some decline in biblical literacy" around the Anglican Communion but "above all encountered the sense of excitement, discovery and challenge that comes from reading the scriptures together," according to a report discussed on Nov. 2.

"Deep Engagement, Fresh Discovery" said it explored the way engagement with and interpretation of Scripture looks like in different parts of the Anglican Communion. The ACC asked for the project at its 14th meeting in 2009 via Resolution 14.06.

The project created a network of regional groups across the communion to explore how different regions engaged with and interpreted the Bible. It reviewed what the Anglican Communion has already said about Scripture through Lambeth Conference resolutions, official reports and reports of ecumenical conversations. It commissioned research based on a number of existing studies exploring how "ordinary Anglicans" view and understand the Bible, and it collected a range of resources for engaging more deeply with Scripture.

Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia Archbishop David Moxon, who chaired the steering committee, said the project is the first time in the history of the Anglican Communion that the churches have taken a deliberate look at "how Anglicans around the world approach the Bible."

Moxon noted that a summary of the project describes a "perhaps unnerving" major finding "that how Anglicans engage with the Bible turns out to be just as important as its content."

The claim, the summary says, "does not contest the unique place and authority which the scriptures have in Anglican life, but it does point up the significance, perhaps thus far overlooked, of the contexts in which and processes by which they are heard and read."

Again the word "context" must be challenged as a buzzword for '"your culture and context will differ from mine" so we can't say for sure what it is Anglicans believe absolutely because it just might change from one "context" to another.

One need only think how the Trinity is now addressed in many services in US Episcopal churches. It is no longer 'Father, Son and Holy Spirit' it is "creator, redeemer, sustainer", or as I heard one woman priest declare recently, 'in the name of God' and quit saying anything more. A follower of Islam could affirm that. Perhaps she had Interfaith notions in her mind. Will she still feel that way when her parish is finally sold off to a Mosque.

Not surprisingly, ACC member and Diocese of Connecticut Bishop Ian Douglas called the Bible in the Life of the Church project "one of the most exciting and important developments in our life in the last few decades." He would say that for a number of reasons, one being that Mrs. Katharine Jefferts Schori was sitting two chairs away from him; secondly, he might have her job in mind a few years down the road (he's young enough); and thirdly, he is slowly getting rid of all the orthodox priests in his diocese that do believe in the authority of scripture and cannot find liberal minded Episcopalians to fill them. His diocese is cutting back on personnel and mission because of diminishing funds.

As far as New Zealand Archbishop David Moxon is concerned, he said he's seen incontrovertible proof that Anglicans "can gather around the Bible - and around Christ, who is the Living Word, in our diversity, because we believe in Scripture, tradition and reason - in that order."

Well 80 people sitting in a cathedral do not a Communion make. We have a de facto schism with the vast majority of the Global South who are in deep disagreement that Anglicans can gather around the Bible.

The Jerusalem Declaration, the theological brain child of the FCA/GAFCON for example, which the vast majority of Anglicans affirm says this; "We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God written and to contain all things necessary for salvation. The Bible is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church's historic and consensual reading."

There is no mention of "culture" or "context" or "interpretation" here. Ironically two archbishops from completely different cultures, countries and education had no problem signing this; Archbishop Peter Akinola (Nigeria) and Archbishop Robert Duncan (ACNA) both affirm Scripture's authority without worrying about interpretation. Both are totally united on what scripture says and does not say about sexuality. Ms. Hicks would disagree.

Theological observer Canon Philip Ashey from the Atlanta-based American Anglican Council noted this of the discussion; "I believe that the discussion on BILC revealed an important major conclusion that tips the hand of the ACC's leadership: that the process of how Anglicans interpret scripture is as important as the substance of scripture. Two conclusions will follow from this premise:

"Firstly, context reigns supreme in how people interpret, and in the diversity of interpretations that flow from diversity of contexts. NO interpretation is better than another (a point made by the preselected TEC leader of one of the small groups), and secondly, there are no "limits" on faithful interpretation (point made by the preselected Church of England representative from another reflection group)."

Whenever there is a concluding report on the place of the Bible in the Life of the Anglican Communion, Rowan Williams will be long gone and his legacy of prevarication will either continue or be cut off at the knees by a new Archbishop. Time will tell. This report will not satisfy all Anglicans, indeed perhaps only a minority, and the rent fabric of the communion will not be fixed or taped over any time soon, if ever. Nothing is binding in this BILC statement so at the end of the day everyone will go their way and "interpret" as they please. That is not Anglican comprehensiveness, it is not even Anglicanism It is heresy pure and simple.

The council will continue debating a resolution about the project's work and its future direction.

END