Thinking Faith: Ethics, Public Theology and the Church of England
05 - 06 May 2015 Conference Summary Report
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Professor Tina Beattie This conference brought together those with a Professor of Catholic Studies, University of concern for ethics and public theology to address Roehampton the question of how the Church of England can respond to the intellectual challenges posed by Revd Canon Professor Richard Burridge a rapidly changing society. Speakers considered Dean of King’s College London and Professor the ‘values gap’ between official Church teaching of Biblical Studies and public opinion; the way ethical opinions are formed in society; responses to strident atheism; Claire Foster-Gilbert the increasingly multi-faith context in which Director, Westminster Abbey Institute theological discourse is conducted; intellectual leadership in the Church; the role of public Revd Professor Robin Gill theology; and the place of theology in higher Emeritus Professor of Applied Theology, education and ministerial training. University of Kent
Rt Revd Lord Harries of Pentregarth
Very Revd Professor Martyn Percy Dean of Christ Church, Oxford
Dr Catherine Pickstock University Reader in Philosophy and Theology, University of Cambridge
Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain Minister, Maidenhead Synagogue
Barbara Ridpath Director, St Paul’s Institute
Lord Indarjit Singh, CBE, DLitt., DL Director, Network of Sikh Organisations
Michael Wakelin Executive Associate in Public Education for the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge and Director Coexist Programmes and Executive Producer TBI Media
Very Revd Dr Frances Ward Dean of St Edmundsbury
Rt Revd Dr Alan Wilson Bishop of Buckingham
Professor Linda Woodhead Professor of Sociology of Religion in the Department of Politics, Philosophy & Religion, Lancaster University
2 EXPLORING THE VALUES GAP BETWEEN CHURCH AND SOCIETY - Professor Linda Woodhead
Official Church teaching on ethical issues often There has been a steep decline in differs from the values of society at large, as well younger people attending Church of England as those of members of faith communities. services, but this is thought to represent a Recent controversies have focussed particularly rejection of institutional religion rather than the on gender and sexuality. How much do these increasing secularisation of society. differences matter for adherents? How much do they matter for the intellectual credibility of the church in society? There is a relatively small, conservative, evangelical wing in the Church of England which Official church teaching on ethical issues differs is quite effective in influencing church from the beliefs of most Christians, and the appointments, policy and decisions. All the major population in general. While 90 percent of people religions in modern societies have in the UK are liberal in questions of personal ‘fundamentalising’ pressure groups and morality, they are centre right in political issues. tendencies, often focused around a purification Members of the Church of England tend to be as of sexual ethics, and a related defence of male liberal as the rest of the population, but are headship. There needs to be a moderating slightly more right wing politically. However the response to this tendency, if religion – especially Church’s official position on issues such as established, societal religion – is not to cut itself euthanasia or same sex marriage tend to be loose from wider culture and society, which would conservative, while clergy are more likely to be be a great loss. What we need is not so much left-wing politically. public theology as engaged theology, which addresses society as it is now, and feels a The clergy and the general population also responsibility to it. The moral, liberal, egalitarian understand the role and importance of the revolution of the 1960s was expressed in terms Church differently. For the clergy the Church is at of the civil rights movement, and the churches the heart of local communities, bringing people were positively engaged. The next wave of this closer to God and offering support for those in movement has concerned rights for women, need. The parochial system matters strongly to children and gay people, but many Churches clergy, but less so for Anglicans more generally, have balked at these and become entrenched in many of whom value the Church of England as a theology of the family which has a questionable part of our heritage. theological basis. Theology can and should help the church take a broader and more critical There has been a steep decline in younger perspective on its own standpoints and implicit people attending Church of England services, but legitimations of certain kinds of unequal power this is thought to represent a rejection of relations. The whole of society as well as the institutional religion rather than the increasing church loses when church and society stop secularisation of society. It appears the Church listening to one another, and theology can be part has lost touch with the concerns and interests of of the solution. broader society. Young people who are critical of the Church tend to believe it discriminates against women and gay people, while older critics say they feel the Church is stuffy and out of touch. In recent years there has been a significant decline in Church weddings and an increase in civil marriages or marriages in non- denominational settings. Non-religious funerals are also becoming common, and are now the preference of about a third of the population.
3 DOES FAITH HAVE A ROLE IN CONTEMPORARY ETHICS? - Revd Professor Robin Gill
Why is it problematic to refer to faith in political can be no morality”. They justify all their and ethical reasoning on matters of public intellectual positions with a simple invocation of debate? How much is this a result of the religious authorities without a rational prominence in public discourse of ‘aggressive consideration of these positions. A dedicated and atheism’? Or is it simply the case that political or tightly formed moral group can have a powerful ethical reasoning should operate independently attraction for a small percent of the population, of faith? but will be unappealing and perhaps alienating to many more. Both sectarian moral exclusivity and A generation ago secularisation theory - the idea strident atheism do not permit that respect for that religious faith is meaningless in today’s alternative positions which allows dialogue. society and will soon disappear from modern life - was widely accepted in intellectual circles. Yet In The Axial Age and its Consequences Merlin this once-dominant theory now has only minority Donald distinguishes four successive cognitive support among sociologists of religion. Although stages in the evolution of primate/hominid there is evidence of increasing secularisation in culture. In the second, mimetic stage, hominids Europe, Christianity is surprisingly vibrant in the developed skills, gestures and forms of non- US and flourishing in South America, Africa, verbal communication well beyond those of other South Korea and the Philippines. primates. For Gill art, ritual and music, including a religious attraction to sacred spaces, buildings Modernity, long thought to pose a serious threat or rituals, reflect the continuation of the mimentic to theology, has not come to dominate; a dimension of culture in modern life. Rather than triumphant atheistic narrative has not emerged: being meaningless and redundant, religious faith instead we have a weak, fragmented can thus be seen as a dimension of being postmodernity. In this context a theological human, a natural conviction hard wired into our narrative has again come to be regarded as a thinking and thus generating the values that viable option. Yet the secular intellectual option, sustain good behaviour. first articulated in the eighteenth century, is also strong and is unlikely to disappear. Cognitive Religious conviction can sometimes offer a vision arguments about the relative merits of either a of a society where differences are respected, secular or religious position, or intellectual proof rather than becoming a cause of violent conflict. for or against the existence of God, are likely to Sometimes, as John Rawls recognised, religion be inconclusive. People both of faith and non- can be an important matrix and model of general, faith hold these positions ultimately for personal, liberal conduct. Jurgen Habermas, similarly, non-cognitive reasons. Thus it should not be admitted that in Europe religious tolerance has problematic to refer to faith in matters of public been the pacemaker for cultural rights, for ethical or political debate: the views of both respect for the equality and freedom of a whole religious and non-religious people should be community of different people. For Gill the values considered because both are valid ‘options’. This or virtues that he derives from Jesus’ healing means dialogue needs to be conducted on the ministry - namely compassionate care, basis of mutual respect and the attempt to faithfulness and humility - do not contradict understand the value of the alternative view. secular values such as beneficence, autonomy and justice, but can enrich and deepen them. Our postmodern society is also characterised by the rise of aggressive, strident atheism that will not admit that a faith-based position has anything Rather than being meaningless and to offer public life and moral debates. And in redundant, religious faith can thus be seen as sharp opposition to aggressive atheists there are a dimension of being human, a natural people of faith who claim that “without God there conviction hard wired into our thinking and thus generating the values that sustain good behaviour. 4 DOES FAITH HAVE A ROLE IN CONTEMPORARY ETHICS? - Lord Singh
Religion has been pushed to the margins of education teaches children about the society they society: there is a widespread view that it has no live in and the behaviour that will keep them out place in public debate, has nothing to offer in the of trouble. Is religion necessary for these? No. development of a peaceful and just society and Sanctions and rewards are sufficient motivators. is the cause only of hatred and violence. I Citizenship skills help an individual’s material believe, however, that religious teaching and standing in society but religious teaching can secular governance, far from being mutually challenge social norms. Religious teaching has exclusive, can both be enhancing, and that nothing to do with social conformity or material religion can offer a cure to some social problems. advancement but is about the improvement of an individual through active concern for broader In particular, religion helps our children become society, not just the self. As the saying goes: “it is more responsible citizens in a fast changing the ‘i’ in middle of ‘sin’ that makes it sin”. world. While we rightly stress the importance of children learning the ‘Three Rs’ - reading, writing There is a tendency for secular society to focus and arithmetic - we put less emphasis on an only on problems rather than look more alternative ‘Three Rs’: rights, wrongs and holistically at the underlying causes. A few years responsibility. The responsibility for teaching ago a solution to the problem of alcohol abuse children these three ‘Rs’ lies with both parents was thought to lie in extending licensing hours. and schools. Unfortunately responsibility The result has been an increase in drunken and sometimes slips between the two and children loutish behaviour. Similar knee-jerk responses get their ideas and beliefs from sources such as have been applied to the problems of internet rooms. overcrowded prisons, drug abuse, and the rise in teenage pregnancies, revealing a social Until recent times we could all grow up in the tendency to look at the wrong end of a problem. comfort and security of the religion and culture Religion can inspire us to think more broadly and that we shared with our own society. National to address the underlying causes of our social cohesion through a shared religious identity was ills. Religions remind us that the strength of strengthened by misrepresenting the ways and families is central to the health and wellbeing of beliefs of others in disparaging terms. When two children and therefore society. or more people find sufficient in common they call themselves an ‘us’ and they look around for an Religions offer a contentment that goes beyond ‘other’ to define themselves against. This can material wellbeing by putting us in touch with lead to an active hatred of whole communities. spiritual values. Religious teachings help us Was the Holocaust a one off case of brutality? move to a more just and harmonious society. Sadly, no, it has been repeated in the killing fields However, those who are religious need to of Cambodia, Rwanda and in the human rights recognise the challenge facing us: we urgently abuses which happen throughout the world. need to discard the unhelpful rituals and practises that have little to do with the original Why do people behave in such a way? William ethical teaching of the founders of faith and serve Golding in Lord of the Flies put forward a thesis only to mask or distort the underlying ethical that without moral and ethical guidance children teaching. Religious texts often contain will naturally gravitate to less civilised behaviour. xenophobic attitudes and yet some believe that It is a disturbing view that has a ring of truth. The every word of their scriptures is literally God’s reality of human nature is that we humans do not words. We need to break down false barriers come with our own built in software for right, between religions, to see our different religions wrong and responsibility. To create a better as overlapping systems of belief. We therefore society children need to be taught how to behave need to find common values that can partner with responsibly. If we taught citizenship and secular values to take us to a fairer and more democracy more effectively in schools would all peaceful society. be well in the world? I think not: citizenship 5 A CASE STUDY IN PUBLIC THEOLOGY: SEXUALITY - Professor Tina Beattie
Official Church teaching is increasingly out of desire: monogamy may be natural on a deep step with public opinion with regard to level but sin always threatens to disrupt this, and homosexuality. Why? Where are the fissures so it may take a lifetime of disciplined practice to between theological / scriptural reasoning and learn what it means to love in a focused and the development of modern liberal values? Has attentive way that enables us to reflect something the sexuality debate done irreparable harm to the of the love and goodness of God in our sexual role and scope of public theology in Britain? relationships.
Natural law theology can be understood not as a In addition, human desire often occupies a set of rules handed down by God, but as a way messy hinterland where love and violence blur of reasoning based on a sense of ourselves one another’s boundaries in a fantasy of having been made in the image of God. Humans unlicensed sexual freedom. Sexuality can be an are uniquely endowed with freedom and reason unruly, anarchic often narcissistic and potentially so that we interpret as well as inhabit our natural violent aspect of our human make-up. Modern environment. Through the use of our God-given Christians, both liberal and conservative, are too capacity for rationality, creativity and moral platitudinous about human sexuality, and fail to discernment we can learn to live well in the world, grapple with the dark undercurrent of violence but God does not dictate or determine our lives that runs through the history and contemporary and choices. For Thomas Aquinas, the law reality of sexual desire. Conservatives gloss over should as far as possible endorse rather than the dark side of all human sexuality with a resist widely accepted cultural values, although romantic ideal of married love, and liberals gloss there are certain practices that are intrinsically the dark side of all human sexuality with a kind wrong. While all desires are ultimately orientated of ‘me-too’ inclusivity which wants everybody to towards God, sin has a damaging and distorting join in the lovefest. The problem is not effect upon desire, making us vulnerable to homosexuality nor heterosexuality but the long frustration, addiction, obsession and shadow of violence cast by the sinful desires of enslavement by our desires. a fallen species. Sinfulness and fallenness are not fashionable expressions, but are necessary If starting from these premises, how do we move as we talk about human desire, sexuality and on to reflect on issues of sexuality, including violence in the light of Christ’s redeeming homosexuality? The Roman Catholic tradition forgiveness and transforming love. continues to insist upon the inseparable link between the unitive and the procreative dimensions of sex, which is why it refuses to The problem is not homosexuality nor accept either artificial contraception or heterosexuality but the long shadow of homosexual relationships. violence cast by the sinful desires of a fallen species Yet the distinguishing characteristic of human sexuality – that which separates us from all other animals – is not the ability to copulate and Both homosexual and heterosexual marriages procreate, but the ability to express our sexuality can express the love of Christ in a wounded, in a uniquely loving and faithful relationships in fallen and violent world: stories of gay men who which something of our desire for God is have nursed their partners through the final expressed in our love for the sexual other. stages of AIDS speak eloquently of the love and Monogamy, fidelity and mutual self-giving in love compassion of Christ, as do the struggles of a are natural at the deepest level of the human married couple who care for their disabled child condition. The present public discourse on or the partner who cares for their sick spouse sexuality lacks any real depth of insight and with the same love and attention. Such love does understanding with regard to the nature of sin not come naturally, if by naturally we mean easily and its effects on our desire, including sexual and spontaneously: learning to love without the 6 distortions of ego is what we do when we decide to go on loving even when we are no longer in love, and that is true of every human relationship in which love has survived the inevitable disillusionments and disappointments of long- term commitment to one another.
From a natural law perspective, human nature is first and foremost about being a creature made in the image of God with a vocation to delight in God’s creation in the process of becoming divine. Gay or straight, celibate or sexually active, bisexual, transgendered, however we experience our sexual identities in terms of desire, the Christian life entails making certain commitments and decisions. It is about fidelity, trust, generosity and forgiveness, about the giving over of oneself to another in a way that reflects Christ’s love for the world, however imperfectly. Christians are all called to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb: marriage is a preparation, a training in love and fidelity, in anticipation of the heavenly wedding feast. If we can contemplate a marriage between the Lamb of God and the vast community of saints who make up the Church, we can surely contemplate a marriage between two human beings of either and every sex.
7 A CASE STUDY IN PUBLIC THEOLOGY: SEXUALITY - Rt Revd Dr Alan Wilson
In 1987, the British Social Attitudes Survey The Church of England is an established church indicated that almost 70 percent of those so it has a problem if the Church and state go professing no religion and almost 90 percent of separate ways. The Church is very reluctant to Christians believed sexual relations between recognise the connection between homophobia adults of the same sex were “always wrong” or and its ‘religious’ prohibition to homosexuality. “almost always wrong.” In 2010 the same survey Homophobia may be based on feelings of threat obtained the same answer from only around 20 but is often rationalised, religiously, by the idea percent of those with no religion, 37 percent of that homosexual relations are intrinsically Anglicans, and just over 50 percent of “Other” disordered, against reason, against nature, and (mostly Evangelical) Christians. The huge fund of therefore against God. However argument based disgust felt towards homosexuality appears to be on natural theology can cut the other way too: if evaporating, and in this new climate same sex you think homosexuality is a normal human marriage has become legally possible. inclination then natural theology will require a far more accepting interpretation of the tiny number While legislation to extend marriage to those of of references to homosexuality in the Bible. What the same sex seems radical perhaps a bigger is natural law? If a young child can respond, change came in 1991 with legal recognition of the naturally, by showing unreserved love to a gay possibility of marital rape and the rights of family member, why can’t the Church of individuals within marriages. This was a major England? If society at large can offer equal revision of William Blackstone’s 1776 ruling that acceptance to gay couples, why can’t the Church rape cannot occur within a marriage, that sex and of England? Our understanding of homosexuality marriage go together like the proverbial horse at the meta-level of natural law is important for and carriage. The 1991 ruling, based on equal the sake of the credibility of the Church in society. rights within marriage, redefined marriage with no reference to the authority of the Church. Marriage as both a rite and a state of life is not exclusive to Christianity. In 1938 the Doctrine Commission of the Church of England called it The Church is very reluctant to recognise an “institution of the natural order which is taken the connection between homophobia and its into and sanctified by the Christian Church” ‘religious’ prohibition to homosexuality. insofar as it reflects the analogy St Paul gives of Christ being married to the Church. This is plainly The Church of England’s official position on about intimate life-long union based on self- homosexuality remains rather confused, in three giving love. It is not established on the basis of ways. First, clergy are not allowed to call a same Jesus’ maleness, nor the begetting children, nor sex blessing a “same sex-blessing”, but may call sexual intercourse: being the Bride of Christ it a service of thanksgiving or dedication. The actually means people of any sex being related Church has not set forth any liturgy for this to Christ with faithfulness, stability and unselfish purpose, so clergy must improvise. This love. approach actually opens more possibilities than it regulates. Secondly, it seems to be possible to be an openly gay Dean, but not an openly gay Bishop. This anomaly does not arise from any set rules, but just inconsistency of attitudes and practises. Thirdly, the Church of England currently does not permit gay marriages. It still, officially, sees marriage as only being possible for life and between one man and one woman.
8 INTELLECTUAL LEADERSHIP AND THEOLOGY - Revd Canon Professor Richard Burridge
What is the intellectual role of bishops and other University representatives at the General Synod Church leaders? Does theological training equip have been increasingly marginalised, and their clergy with appropriate intellectual resources? numbers cut, while staff from theological colleges Has theology declined as an academic discipline are now included within their constituency with at the expense of religious studies? the inevitable shift to issues concerning the church and ordination training, rather than Are we in the midst of an ecclesiological shift universities and wider society. There are now no from the Church of England being an Established Bishops who have ever held an academic Church aiming to serve all of society, to being a university post teaching theology (probably the Mission-Shaped Church aiming to save people first time this has happened since the out of society? Reformation), and a lack of academic theological postgraduate qualifications among the five senior In recent decades, large gaps have increased bishops. The Doctrine Commission has been between the concerns of the church, public abolished, and it is often argued that the Bishops’ theology and wider society. The role of the Dean views are regarded as less important in debates of King’s College London was traditionally to link in the House of Lords as they once were. higher education, the church and society through the Dean’s particular concern for vocation and As a consequence, the Church is no longer ordination training, involvement in public theology providing intellectual leadership to our society. and ethics and through university proctors in the Where once the Church’s Board of Social General Synod. However, maintaining this role is Responsibility provided valuable guidance on now more difficult. Ordination training at King’s questions around the decriminalisation of was ended in 1979, as the Church of England homosexuality, prisons, the environment and concentrated on its theological colleges. In King’s embryo research, it is under the aegis of ‘Mission and other universities, while pure academic and Public Affairs’, with fewer and less theology has remained, instead of a Bachelor of specialised staff trying respond to society and Divinity degree, students are now awarded a government initiatives rather than offering ethical Bachelor of Arts from the Arts and Humanities leadership to Parliament. The Board of Education department, ending any confessional is under similar pressure. One possible example commitment in the study of theology. Meanwhile, of intellectual leadership from the Church might more applied theological training is often done be seen in the work of the Ethical Investment through courses within education or professional Advisory Group, but this needs to be linked more studies. We need to reintegrate the pure and closely to the rest of the Church. Increasingly applied, so academic theology is related both to today, the Church appears to lag behind social the needs of the Church and its ministry and also attitudes, such as those on the marriage of to the issues facing wider society. Theology as divorcees, the ordination of women or debates an academic discipline has also been challenged about gay marriage. Instead of trying to help by the rise of new multi-disciplinary degrees such society in moral debates, the Church seems as ‘religion, politics and society’ or ‘religion, deliberately setting out to be different, with a philosophy and ethics’, which have become strong sense of needing to ‘witness’ against popular following developments with GCSE and society. This is therefore a different ecclesiology A-level examinations at school. and view of the church’s mission than the traditional established Church of England, Instead of trying to help society in moral becoming instead more of a gathered church debates, the Church seems deliberately trying to increase its ‘market share’ of committed setting out to be different, with a strong sense Christians. of needing to ‘witness’ against society.
9 INTELLECTUAL LEADERSHIP AND THEOLOGY - Very Revd Martyn Percy
The problem facing the Church of England is one If the sole purpose of the Church is to grow of bifurcation. We are watching the academy and where is the attraction for people on the edge? the church split: it is a painful and perplexing We are in danger of losing sight of the core process. If theology is not or cannot be owned by purpose of the Church which is to carry forward the Church leadership there is a real weakness. the ministry and teaching of Christ. This won’t be The Church needs bifocals: it needs to refocus. done though mission statements and strap lines. My mantra is to teach, teach, teach and educate On the one hand having a doctorate is unlikely to educate, educate. If you have something help anyone’s advancement in the Church of intelligent to say, let us hear it. Good teachers England, on the other traditional good work in a should be chosen for advancement, not those parish is regarded as valueless if it cannot be who are concerned only with growth and described in terms of quantifiable outcomes and management. We need an imaginative theology empirical data. The Church’s empirical analysis that serves the public. might not be particularly reliable anyway. Even the vicar of quite a poor parish can have a lot of contact with people through funerals and We are in danger of losing sight of the christenings, yet Fresh Expressions and Pioneer core purpose of the Church which is to carry Ministry are celebrated more than traditional front forward the ministry and teaching of Christ. line work: is it fair to compare the two and hold one up as the model of success?
We seem to have forgotten that leadership and governance are separate but related. Democratic bodies like Synods are needed to call our bishops to account. Some bishops think Synod gets in the way. With both the “Green Report” and “Resourcing Ministerial Education” there was a lack of proper consultation with Synod, or with those academics and experts who would have challenged and thus strengthened the work. The process of bishops enforcing changes has only produced resentment.
The Church needs constructive dissent, not destructive consent. Most of those in public office will understand the role of loyal dissent, and the importance of bringing others on board. As the saying goes: “if you want to travel fast go alone, if you want to travel far, go together.” We have a leadership that is using a rhetoric of urgency and impatience, instead of seeking to engage others with patience and humility. The leaders of our church, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, say that the sole or main purpose of the Church is to grow. Ours has become a mildly totalitarian movement towards control and management, fused with an impatient urge to mission.
10 INTELLECTUAL LEADERSHIP AND THEOLOGY - Very Revd Dr Frances Ward
What is the intellectual role of bishops and other I think the causes of Church decline are more Church leaders? First, they have a pedagogical complex than what the growth strategists task to promote a good and true understanding understand. People will not be tempted to of God so each generation understands salvation become good church-going types who put money and is inspired to come to church. Second, their in the plate through messy church or the easy theological role is to guard against heresy and sentimentalism of Fresh Expressions. I am not fads of theology. And finally they have an convinced that as a church we have an ecclesial apologetic task to commend Christianity today model to offer those who have lost their faith. with a sound understanding of culture. Growth will not deliver in its own terms.
Today huge emphasis is put on mission by most Church leaders should draw on the wisdom of dioceses and their bishops. This makes me feel our past traditions to carry forward a confident anxious: the Church is being driven by a flawed vision which reaffirms the power of the church to vision, an inadequate understanding of the shape the human person over a life. Education, relationship between the Gospel and culture. engagement and resources are needed. People Instead of giving a critique of the individualism want a serious engagement with holiness. They and sentimentalism of modern society the want to grow in emotional and moral knowledge Church is remoulding itself to offer only these. by belonging to something bigger than The rich emotional and moral resources of themselves. traditional Christianity are being jettisoned. The Church is not opening the door to a rich cultural hinterland that points to God, offering a virtuous, happy life. There seems to be a lack of confidence in God’s grace. The Church is sinking into a justification by works culture: it is being required to have an instrumental, utilitarian value that is easily measurable. This emphasis on growth is a facile panic response to a perceived crisis.
Instead of giving a critique of the individualism and sentimentalism of modern society the Church is remoulding itself to offer only these. The rich emotional and moral resources of traditional Christianity are being jettisoned.
Cathedrals offer a different critical model: they inspire people to encounter the living God. They are civic churches where political and military celebrations contribute to national life. They offer mission through tradition and intellectual and cultural enrichment. Cathedral schools, with their emphasis on team sport, choirs and orchestra, are formative of character, teaching young people to be corporal rather than merely individualistic.
11 SPEAKING UP FOR THEOLOGY - Rt Revd Lord Harries of Pentregarth
What are the opportunities for – and challenges Many issues are extremely controversial and I of – engaging in public ethical debate from a accept a degree of hostility. I don’t buy into a theological perspective? political package: I seek moral, not political, consistency. I think my position is based on a My apologies for considering this subject in sense of who has power and how they use it. I biographical form, but it is in facing the pressing ask how can power be used to bring greater public issues that have arisen during my lifetime equality to a world of inequality? Justice will only that my theology has been expressed, formed be achieved by taking power seriously. For and refined. I did not initially envision a role in example, in relation to gay clergy, I nominated public theology for myself. In 1967, however, a Jeffrey John, a celibate gay, as the Area Bishop group of colonels took over Greece and justified of Reading simply because I considered him the this in the name of Christianity. Enraged, I sent a best man for the job. This provoked the dismay note to The Guardian and from this came the of Evangelicals in Reading and Oxford and the chance to do reviews followed by broadcasting. plan was stopped. Yet this issue needed and In this case, and subsequently, my public needs to be faced by the Church. statements reflected my deeply felt convictions. On matters of public policy only politicians are in If clergy want to contribute to public debates, a position to make choices: the Church’s role is theology must be translated into ethics. You can to step back from the problem, consider it deeply only do public theology on the borderlands of and then make a statement which seeks to help Christianity and wider society, with a thorough the political decision making process. Assisted understanding of alternative intellectual positions. dying and embryo research are examples of issues I care deeply about that benefit from a As Dean of King’s College, London I realised the theological rigour. What we say does not need to need to do ethics in conjunction with other sound distinctly Christian: what matters is one’s secular thinkers. The distinguished War Studies theological base that gives a fundamental Department at King’s helped me form my views integrity. on a just war and enabled me to make contributions to the debates on the Gulf War, Afghanistan and the Iraq war. While at Kings I also paid a visit to South Africa and I spoke with some of the key anti-apartheid leaders. On the basis of this I wrote some articles for The Times and was asked to chair a campaigning group to end loans to the South African government.
If clergy want to contribute to public debates, theology must be translated into ethics.
12 DOING CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY IN A DOING CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY IN A MULTI-FAITH SOCIETY MULTI FAITH SOCIETY - Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain - Michael Wakelin
What sensitivities are there in doing public The rise of other faiths in Britain has not changed Christian theology in a multi-faith society? Has or diluted the role of Christianity. The problems the rise of other faiths in Britain diluted the role facing the Church of England actually come from of Christianity in the public square or has it given religious illiteracy, apathy and strident secularism. new opportunities for collaboration? How has the increasingly diverse society changed the status In 1986, when I arrived at the religious of public theology in Britain? broadcasting department of the BBC it was predominantly Christian, with several vicars on Theology is not a central focus in Judaism: what the staff. It remained so for too long, only recently to do is regarded as a more important question becoming more plural to reflect more accurately than what to believe. Thus while Christian the diversity of beliefs in Britain. ministers might give sermons about salvation by faith in Christ, Rabbis tend to talk on questions It is not possible to assume the listening public is of business ethics or the environment. In fact, it on any kind of faith journey. This can be is said that to be a good Jew you do not addressed by faith groups together taking on the necessarily need to believe in God - many Jews shallow arrogance of secularism. The Cambridge are atheists or agnostics - you just need to do Coexist Leadership Programme offers a way of what is right. learning about other people’s faiths and building deep and lasting friendships across religious What sensibilities are there in doing Christian divides: it is not intended to be a multi-faith mash, theology in a multi-faith society? I would say reducing all differences to nothing. It is thought virtually none: Christians have tried hard to be that by going deeper into each faith heritage, it is accommodating; so much so that whenever there possible to understand the complexity of our is a debate about disestablishment other faiths multi-faith existence. Out of the challenges of groups are against the idea - they like the diversity the true nature of God can be umbrella provided by the Church of England. understood. Sometimes the Church appears to be too nervously respectful of other religions. Turning Out of the challenges of diversity the true Christmas into a catch all ‘winter festival’ is nature of God can be understood. demeaning and not actually a way of respecting those of other faiths. Christians tend to mingle anonymously in society, yet should have more self-confidence in proclaiming their own faith. Confidence does not necessarily mean being triumphalist.
If there is a decline in Church allegiance, it is not because of the presence of other faiths, but because there is a fault line between secular society and Christianity. The Church of England needs to rediscover its own strengths and talk about them. It should “be loud, be proud and back Christian teaching”.
If there is a decline in Church allegiance, it is not because of the presence of other faiths, but because there is a fault line between secular society and Christianity.
13 THEOLOGY AND ETHICS IN THE THEOLOGY AND ETHICS IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE PUBLIC SQUARE - Barbara Ridpath - Claire Foster-Gilbert
How is theology conducted in the public square? I read theology at Oxford but studied no ethics. It How much is it the case that values derived from was only when working at the Centre of Law and theological reasoning are distilled and separated Ethics, King’s College London that I became from their roots when presented in secular interested in medical ethics. The Centre took a forums? What should be the role of theology on thoroughly secular, rational approach to ethical issues of contemporary ethical concern? questions, it had nothing to do with the theology faculty, which it regarded as purely reactionary Having worked in finance I bring an outsider’s and prohibitive. The ethics of medical research perspective to the Church: I understand what the on humans became my speciality and I City sees when it sees the Church. While the developed an approach to moral thinking which I Church is trying to teach lessons to the City, I still use. A good moral analysis needs to consider think business can also teach the Church about three questions: is the outcome, the goal, good theology. and desirable? Will our duty not to harm people be met? Have the rights and views of those most In New York and London religion is generally not affected been taken into account? Although I am spoken about in work contexts: it is regarded as grateful for this rigorous secular training in ethical too personal and emotive. Christians tend not to thinking, I became aware that this philosophy has wear their religion on their sleeve. How do we get nothing to say to, for example, the woman these folks out of the faith closet? The Church suffering at the bed of a dying child, and faced needs to help people find both meaning for their with a decision about life support. Such an own lives and a community within which to live. individual is not thinking about Bentham’s It is important to understand people’s questions utilitarianism, or Kant’s categorical imperative. and concerns. For example, many people are Enlightenment philosophers do not have a struggling with issues of inequality - racial, sexual language that speaks to those who are suffering. or financial. Or many want to get off the treadmill I found that Christianity offers emotional of competitive consumerism. It is also necessary sustenance that comes in underneath the rational to recognise that different people have different ethical thinking and I saw how much it had to needs: experimenting with new formats that allow offer vulnerable people in a needy world. for multi-level conversations are valuable. Christianity has much to offer a society where I became particularly interested in the theology social media can sometimes make people feel of the environment. Very few thought the Church more lonely. However it is necessary first to get had anything to say about the environment, but I people in the door to talk about Christianity. In a felt otherwise: central to Christianity is the idea of society of many and no faiths our conversations covenant, the interdependence of all things, the need to be across religious divides. For those sacred heart of God’s creation. The Church’s who are practising Christians theology becomes theological narrative could inspire all people to more valuable and important as it is studied over care for creation, and care for themselves as part time, strengthening and deepening faith. of creation.
The decline and renewal of the Church of I found that Christianity offers emotional England poses a serious challenge. Every great sustenance that comes in underneath the and deep difficulty forces us to change our rational ethical thinking and I saw how much it thinking to find a solution. There needs to be had to offer vulnerable people in a needy renewed Church engagement on issues of ethics world. and social justice. The diverse and inclusive nature of Anglicanism needs to remain: we must work across theological and denominational boundaries.
14 The Westminster Abbey Institute aims to revitalise the moral and spiritual values in public life. We do so by focusing on those working near us, in particular, the judiciary, executive, and legislature. While we work closely with public servants our aim is not to comment on policy, not to campaign, or to be party political. Instead, the Institute fosters rigorous, clear, relevant moral analysis and the opportunity to develop moral character in individuals and institutions. MPs have expressed themselves as nervous of attending anything with the word ‘ethics’ in its title, but the Institute offers a simple framework, based on a deeper ethical and spiritual understanding. We also provide a safe space for public servants to admit fallibility: the Institute gives them the space to be themselves, vulnerable and human. We hope the Institute, through its Fellows’ Programme, will create a community of people who support each other in good will as they grow into their roles and become visionary leaders.
15 MAKING THE CASE FOR GOD: FAITH AND THE INTELLECTUAL CREDIBILITY OF THE CHURCH - Dr Catherine Pickstock range of disciplines now raise questions concerning knowledge, truth, being and goodness - themes that are ineluctably “We know what Anglicans think about food theological - even if they approach these banks. We don’t know their arguments against questions in heterodox or dogmatically atheistic atheism.” (Philips Collins, The Times, Dec 2013). guises. Christianity needs boldness in its In an increasingly well-educated, reflective era, interdisciplinary gesture: it needs to take a lead what can the Church of England do to improve in raising new questions and setting agendas for its intellectual credibility? the arts, humanities and the sciences more broadly. The crisis now facing Christianity is one of belief and if this is not addressed the Church is likely to wither and fragment into marginal sects. Equally, Theology and the university In the 1990s theology was sometimes dismissed the problems faced by the Church may in fact as the discipline whose subject matter could not present rich and exciting opportunities. If we are be pinned down and whose methodology was to meet the challenges posed by ‘new atheists’ problematic. With more widespread such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and AC understanding that postmodernism has Grayling there needs to be both an academic and problematised all claims to disinterested or popular understanding of the Christian world universal knowledge, even in the ‘hard’ sciences, view. It is no good resorting to talk of how the theology need no longer regard itself as out of Church exists only ‘to serve’ and ‘to listen’: its role place in the context of the university. In fact, it can is also to witness through vision and inspirational now take a lead in raising new research leadership, and these depend on a theological questions and drawing other disciplines to outlook. engage with these, with its natural combining of a sensitivity as to the way things are, and an Theology today openness to things being more than they seem. There is sometimes a prejudice expressed Theology’s premise of the human reality of against the supposedly rarefied nature of incompletness need not be seen as a academic theology. In fact new developments in downgrading of our potential, but as a source of theology are grounded in an assumption of the intellectual inspiration. authority and profundity of canonical texts, while also being open to contemporary theoretical approaches to analysis. Theologians are now Theology and secularity How are we to appeal to a society whose aiming to articulate wisdom which is not remote expectations, structures and norms seem so or detached, but is thoroughly embedded in the thoroughly secular? It was an atheist theorist, daily living of life. Régis Debray, who argued that in fact human existence is basically religious, because culture Theology and ‘other’ disciplines comprises a system of meaning which cannot The second frontier which theology encounters complete itself, and must appeal to some kind of is that of other academic disciplines. There might transcendence. From this it follows that we need seem to be a danger that theology loses its own to become better informed about religion in order conviction or integrity in its encounter with other to understand ourselves. But just as society subjects. Yet in fact theology has always been needs to understand its own theological and interdisciplinary, drawing on a collaboration religious connections, so academic theology and between historical, literary, philosophical and doctrinally expositional approaches. If, as It is no good resorting to talk of how the Aquinas suggested, theology draws by Church exists only ‘to serve’ and ‘to listen’: its participation into God’s thinking, it is not role is also to witness through vision and especially about any one ‘thing’ at all, and has no inspirational leadership, and these depend on fixed domain of its own, rather it is the divine a theological outlook. science of every different thing. Moreover, a wide 16 the Church need better to understand their anxieties about contemporary society. Church leaders need to recognise their own reluctance to talk directly about God and religion. We have to offer reasons why one should believe in God and the Christian God.
Theology and the Church The Church must keep connected with academic theology if it is to understand its role in contemporary society and so survive. Inversely, academic Christian Theology cannot neglect its links with the Church or faith communities. The Church is the first and final context of theological endeavour, and without such a link, we risk academic decadence.
Christian Theology and Non-Christian faiths Just as theology has always been interdisciplinary and linked with the Church, so it has always been in a sense ‘interfaith’ or inclusive. If we are to articulate a theological identity today, we need to define what ‘religion’ is and has been, and the reasons why Christianity is vera religio.
In conclusion, theology needs to combine canonical integrity with confidence and clarity in relation to the frontiers discussed here. Whilst several of the contributions to this conference have alerted us to the difficulties theologians and the Church face, I believe that these may be surmountable, and even yield benefits by forcing us to unthink certain unhelpful assumptions. Perhaps the biggest question of all is whether the ‘gap’ identified by Linda Woodhead is a bad thing, or a fruitful crucible? Should the Church capitulate to secular norms or should it present bold ideals which challenge those norms? Engagement can take the form of fruitful critique. After all, true friendship does not demand wholesale agreement, as Plato shows us in Lysis.
17 CONFERENCE CONCLUSION ABOUT CUMBERLAND LODGE
The Church of England needs to provide Cumberland Lodge is an educational charity intellectual leadership, not just to counter the which was established in 1947 as an institute challenge posed by strident atheism, but also to dedicated to the betterment of society through overcome the religious apathy and ignorance that the promotion of ethical discussion. is widespread in society. Speakers at this conference affirmed how much Christianity has Inspired by the beauty and history of its to offer modern society. In the midst of our surroundings, Cumberland Lodge is dedicated to seemingly secular society individuals still the discussion of ethical, spiritual and topical experience a sense of awe at God’s creation, issues in contemporary society. Preparing young made manifest in nature, art and religious people for their future responsibilities is at the worship. Faith in this sense of the transcendent heart of its work, but the Lodge seeks through the is a powerful source of meaning, values, hope enquiring nature of its programmes and the and inspiration. Thus religious faith offers spiritual quality of its hospitality to enhance the well-being well-being, beyond society’s current of people whatever their age or wherever they preoccupation with material well-being. Ethics live. based on a Christian faith defines ‘good’ in a way that differs from that of many secular moral philosophers, or political theorists, by speaking directly to suffering, fallible individuals. CUMBERLAND LODGE STAFF
Several speakers followed the implications of the Dr Owen Gower Biblical claim that we are all made in the image Director, Cumberland Lodge Programme of God. God - what is sacred - is to be found in all of creation: in each man, woman, child, adult, Canon Dr Edmund Newell gay or straight. Children are not born with a Principal, Cumberland Lodge preconditioned sense of right and wrong: it is the (sacred) duty of adults to teach them about their Janis Reeves responsibilities to society. Several speakers also Conference Co-ordinator, Cumberland Lodge affirmed that it is through our God-given capacity Programme to reason that adults determine what is right and wrong: it is too simplistic to hold onto an isolated Sandra Robinson (report author) Biblical text as a rule for life. Associate Director, Cumberland Lodge Programme The Church of England needs to be more confident that it has much to offer secular society. Rebecca Sparkes It is important that theologians understand the Administrator, Cumberland Lodge Programme questions and concerns of broader society and seek to address these directly. The answers do not have to be a capitulation to purely materialistic concerns, or a resort to the platitudes of either conservatives or liberals on matters of sexuality and gender. Nor should the Church base its programme of renewal on simplistic mission-strap lines at the expense of a Thinking Faith: Ethics, Public Theology and broader, deeper theological perspective. The Church of England Education not just in theology, but education as Summary report written by Sandra Robinson, a theological imperative will come when each Associate Director, Cumberland Lodge individual is seen as being made in the image of © Cumberland Lodge January 2016 God. www.cumberlandlodge.ac.uk Registered charity no.1108677 18