"Traditionalists" in the CofE

Following GAFCON and now the vote of General Synod on Women Bishops, we once again have hundreds of clergymen and rabbles of the laity saying that they have had enough of the good old CofE, and that they're off to Rome, or to Nigeria. (Actually, it's amazing just how few of them have actually ever shown any desire to have anything to do with Nigeria, barring a bit of episcopal oversight while supping tea in their vicarages, but never mind..)

All because of homosexuals and women in the episcopate.

And every conceivable group of schismatics is claiming to be acting in the tradition of the church, claiming that they - and they alone - are capable of proclaiming the Word of God in a pristine and proper way.

One of the things I like about the Church of England is that it used to have an awareness of its own history. The buildings, the language, the shape of the services, and the variety of the liturgical practices all bear witness to its convoluted birth and evolution over the centuries.

But what both sides of both debates seem to have lost is this very sense of theological perspective. The CofE has prospered because it has never been very doctrinaire - just ask a low churchman and an Anglo-Catholic what they each think the 39 Articles mean if you don't believe me. We've never had a unified liturgical practice, right from Day 1, through the Civil War, down to today. (Remember, you can hear the Cathedral bells in St Aldates...).

There are a couple of things which really are essential parts of the CofE though. Communion. Respect for differing opinions. An acknowledgement that we are all striving to find out what the Bible means today, and a willingness to have debate which may not end in agreement.

I know what I think about the ordination of gays and the consecration of women. But I'm not going to storm off in a huff if not everyone agrees with me. I will keep trying to persuade others of my point of view in a rational and calm way, and accept that some people never will agree with me, in the same way that I'm never going to feel comfortable at Pusey House or St Aldates, and never will approve of Common Worship.

However, even if guitars were made compulsory or the BCP were burnt in Tom Quad, I wouldn't indulge myself in this ridiculous knee-jerk reaction of "I'm leaving! I'm going to the Evangelical nutters! I'm going to Rome!". To do that shows that perhaps you never were a real member of the CofE. You just didn't get it, did you? We placed our faith in a church of moderation, debate, courtesy, not in the lunatic fringes of Roman Catholicism or tambourine waving nutters. If the principles you once claimed to find important are less meaningful to you than someone you don't like or approve of being consecrated a Bishop, I question your very claim to be a Christian, let along your rationality or your worth as a member of our Church.

The Anglican Communion has space for us all, so long as we are confident that we are all pursuing the same ultimate objective: to struggle to come to terms with the revealed Word of God. The real traditionalists of our Church should recognise that, and stop pretending it's simple, black and white, or easy.