Editorial Matters: after Tanzania

Once more the Anglican Communion has stepped back from the edge. Once more the reprieve looks temporary, with a deadline set and a further meeting ahead. The pattern is now familiar enough to be studied rather than merely endured.

Mapping the positions

It helps to distinguish responses along two axes: what is believed about sexual ethics, and what is believed about life in communion. Those who hold traditional teaching are not all of one mind about how provinces should relate, and neither are those who seek change. Four broad groupings emerge, and most of the recent difficulty lies in the space between them.

The covenant and the pastoral scheme

The proposed covenant is the more important long term development, because it would give the Communion a shared account of what its members owe one another. The pastoral scheme is an attempt to hold the American church together while that process runs, and its fate will show how far interdependence is really wanted.

The listening process

Underneath the procedural questions lies the harder human one. Listening is easy to commend and difficult to practise, especially where conviction runs deep. The Communion has committed itself to it, and that commitment will be tested by whether either side can hear the other without reaching first for a verdict.

In this issue

This issue focuses on Scripture, with articles on listening to the word, on Scripture and ethics, on reading difficult texts, and on the changing shape of evangelical theological education.