Female bishops

The Anglican Diocese of Christchurch, New Zealand, recently announced that Bishop Matthews will be their new Bishop.  The Anglican Church of Australia announced her first female bishop last month.

Meantime, the good old Church of England continues in seemingly endless chicken-licken style discussion. In my more bleak moments it makes me think of Nero fiddling while Rome burned. Fresh Expressions? A Missional church? All around us there are people hungry and thirsty for the story we have to tell, yet all they can hear is our endless circumventions of an argument that is out of date. 

Will we ever see women in the Episcopate? Probably. A while from now. And then another round of hissy fits and arguments. Now, I have no personal career/ministry agenda in this: do not mistake me for someone who would want to be a Bishop. My gifts and inclinations clearly lie elsewhere. And in any case by the time the discussions are over I shall be on the verge of retirement. But I still feel deeply sorry that the Church I belong to continues to maintain levels of its organisation as a boys' club, wastes the talents of women who would be brilliant Bishops, and by inference misrepresents the gospel to the world around us. 

Bishop Alan is on fine form this morning on the subject. Go read.

Comments

[bob carlton]

amen, amen, amen wise maggie

the strange embodiment of the Good News gets connected to only humans with certain bits is just hard to true up with expressions that are meant to be fresh or economies spoken of as mixed

thanks for speaking aloud & with such wisdom

[Neale]

We're on a tear with bishops who happen to be female in Canada - recently in the Dioceses of Nova Scotia, Toronto, and Edmonton (where the Rev. Dr. Jane Alexander will be consecrated May 11, replacing Victoria Matthews, who went to New Zealand after almost being chosen Canadian Primate).
I write this not to brag, but to celebrate how blessed we have been to be able to find inspired leadership from this half of the human race. By delaying and delaying the inevitable, the C of E cripples itself, when, God knows, Anglicans everywhere need the best leadership possible.

[tim]

Great post Maggi. We Anglicans really are silly sometimes. Or, well, all the time. Sometimes I have to wonder whether being fundamentally backwards isn't a part of the Anglican DNA...

[AnneDroid]

I feel for you all. I remember listening to the debate about female anglican priests all those years ago...

In the Church of Scotland we circumvent the whole thing. First of all, we believe in the priesthood of all believers and our clergy are "teaching elders" based on the prophetic model from the Bible rather than the priestly one. I can't see women priests in the Bible so I can genuinely see the problem but there are women prophets...

And, following on from not having priests, we don't bother having bishops either, so don't need to decide about their gender since they don't exist.

Presbyterianism has an undeserved bad press - I think the dour and grumpy elder penguins in the film Happy Feet where supposed to be presbyterian! But on this issue, we have an easier time.

[Tony B]

Very sad and somewhat depressing. But Maggi for Bishop!

[Rose]

Maggi,
I am working on some studies, could you recommend your top two women N.T. scholars?
Thanks

[Rose]

I meant "female" whilst thinking "women"
Thanks!

[maggi]

Rose, New Testament isn't really my area, so I'm no expert. But I do eat my lunch at least once a week with Professor Morna hooker, whose work is lovely, and a much younger, v. interesting British N.T. scholar is Paula Gooder

[Rose]

Thank you

[Lorna]

Fresh Expressions? A Missional church? All around us there are people hungry and thirsty for the story we have to tell, yet all they can hear is our endless circumventions of an argument that is out of date.

sigh.