Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Bishops' Theology Committee Publishes Draft Report on Same-Gender Relationships


So, they have finally done the theology????? 

From Episcopal Life Online....

By Mary Frances Schjonberg, March 24, 2010

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church's House of Bishops, concluding its six-day retreat meeting at Camp Allen in Navasota, Texas, has posted a draft of the long-awaited 95-page report titled "Same-Sex Relationships in the Life of the Church" on the College of Bishops' website here.

"For a generation and more the Episcopal Church and the wider Anglican Communion have been engaged in a challenging conversation about sexual ethics, especially regarding same-sex relationships in the life of the church," Theology Committee Chair and Alabama Bishop Henry Parsley wrote in the report's preface. "The hope of this work is that serious engagement in theological reflection across differences will build new bridges of understanding."


A notation on the report's table of contents page cautions that the report "has been edited in several places" following a discussion among the bishops on March 20. "The responses of several pan-Anglican and ecumenical theologians will be added to this study in the summer, along with some further editing, before a final edition is published," the note concludes.


The House of Bishops had asked its theology committee in 2009 -- prior to the 76th meeting of General Convention -- to study the theology of same-gender relationships. In its report to the convention the committee said that the study would be "designed to reflect a full spectrum of views and to be a contribution to the listening process of the Anglican Communion, as well as to the discussion of this subject in our province." The committee said the study would be "a long-term, multi-step project that is designed to be completed in 2011."

Read the rest of the story here:

Let us know what you think of the report. Post a comment here after you read it.....all 95 pages.





1 comment:

Ann said...

95 pages? symbolic of the 95 Theses? I like +Kirk of Arizona's comment -- "The reception was less than thrilling," Smith wrote of the papers in his blog. "One bishop pointed out that there was nothing new in the arguments, stuff we have heard 20 years ago.