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To Set Our Hope on Christ To Set Our Hope on Christ A Response to the Invitation of Windsor Report ¶135 Cover image from an icon by Kathryn Carrington written for the Chapel of Christ the Lord at the Episcopal Church Center. Copyright © 2005. The Offi ce of Communication, the Episcopal Church Center, New York. Permission is granted to reproduce or link this electronic document for personal, educational, and research use without charge and with attribution, provided that the contents are not altered in any way. Permission is required for all other reproduction including electronic re-publication or print duplication outside of fair use. ii Contents FOREWORD From the Presiding Bishop ........................................................................ 1 Part I: Introduction ......................................................................................... 3 Part II: Holiness, God’s Blessing, and Same-Sex Affection ..............................8 Discerning Holiness in the Members of Christ’s Body .............................. 8 Searching the Scriptures: ........................................................................... 9 The Church’s Life and the Living Word ....................................................9 New Refl ections on Biblical Texts .......................................................... 17 Developing Understandings of Same-Sex Relationships ..........................23 The Universal Call to Holiness of Life in Human Relationships ............. 26 Part III: Contested Traditions, Common Life: The Episcopal Church’s Historical Witness to Unity-in-Difference ............................................... 31 Placing Our History in Service to the Gospel ..........................................33 Facing the Truth of Our Past in the Light of Christ ................................ 35 A Long Season of Listening and Consultation ........................................ 40 Part IV: Eligibility for Ordination .................................................................. 44 “Proclaiming Christ’s Resurrection”: ..................................................... 44 Eligibility and the Capacity to Bear Witness ...........................................44 Further Qualities to Be Discerned in the Ordained ................................. 47 The Holy Spirit, the Local Community, and the Life of Christ................ 49 Ordination for the Whole Church .......................................................... 52 Unity-in-Difference: ...............................................................................54 The Church Lives from and for the Holy Trinity ....................................54 Part V: Walking Together by Grace ............................................................... 60 iii APPENDIX ................................................................................................... 63 The Historical Development of Beliefs and Policies Regarding Sexuality in the Episcopal Church, USA .......................................................................... 63 Introduction .................................................................................................. 64 61st General Convention—1964 .................................................................... 66 62nd General Convention—1967 ................................................................... 67 63rd General Convention—1970 .................................................................... 69 House of Bishops Meeting—1972 ................................................................. 69 64th General Convention—1973 .................................................................... 69 House of Bishops Meetings—1974 & 1975 .................................................. 70 65th General Convention—1976 .................................................................... 71 House of Bishops Meeting—1977 ................................................................. 74 66th General Convention—1979 .................................................................... 75 67th General Convention—1982 .................................................................... 82 68th General Convention—1985 .................................................................... 82 1988—The “Divine Gift” Controversy ......................................................... 83 69th General Convention—1988 .................................................................... 87 House of Bishops Meeting—1990 ................................................................. 91 70th General Convention—1991 .................................................................... 94 71st General Convention—1994 .................................................................... 96 1995—The Trial ......................................................................................... 101 72nd General Convention—1997 ................................................................. 104 73rd General Convention—2000 .................................................................. 110 International Anglican Conversations, 1999-2002 ...................................... 115 Approaching Minneapolis, 2003 ................................................................. 117 Offi cial Studies and Reports on Human Sexuality ....................................... 120 Episcopal Church, USA—1967-2003 .......................................................... 120 The Vagaries of Journal Organization and Convention Practices ................ 122 Endnotes ..................................................................................................... 130 iv FOREWORD From the Presiding Bishop “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” (1 Peter 1:3). It is truly by the grace of Christ’s resurrection that the church lives, and in that “living hope” we fi nd our common calling as members of Christ’s body throughout the world. The Episcopal Church in the United States welcomes the request made in paragraph 135 of the Windsor Report: “We particularly request a contribution from the Episcopal Church (USA) which explains, from within the sources of authority that we as Anglicans have received in scripture, the apostolic tradition and reasoned refl ection, how a person living in a same gender union may be considered eligible to lead the fl ock of Christ.” The Episcopal Church has been seeking to answer this question for nearly 40 years and at the same time has been addressing a more fundamental question, namely: how can the holiness and faithfulness to which God calls us all be made manifest in human intimacy? Though we have not reached a common mind we have come to a place in our discussion such that the clergy and people of a diocese have been able, after prayer and much discernment, to call a man living in a same sex relationship to be their bishop. As well, a majority of the representatives of the wider church—bishops, clergy and lay persons—have felt guided by the Holy Spirit, again in light of prayer and discernment, to consent to the election and consecration. I have asked a group of theologians to refl ect upon the question posed to the Episcopal Church in the Windsor Report. I am grateful to the following persons who prepared this report. The Rev. Dr. Michael Battle of the Virginia Theological Seminary; the Rev. Dr. Katherine Grieb of the Virginia Theological Seminary; the Rev. Dr. Jay Johnson of the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley; the Rev. Dr. Mark McIntosh of Loyola University Chicago; the Rt. Rev. Catherine Roskam, Bishop Suffragan of New York; Dr. Timothy Sedgwick of the Virginia Theological Seminary; Dr. Kathryn Tanner of the University of Chicago Divinity School. I am grateful as well to Dr. Pamela W. Darling for the preparation of the Appendix which delineates the formal contents of the debate over these last four decades. The fruit of their efforts is set forth on these pages. As this paper is an explanation of how this action could have been taken by faithful people it makes the positive case. It does not attempt to give all sides of an argument or to model a debate. It is important to note that the paper does not attempt to replicate or summarize the conversations that have taken place in the church over nearly 40 years. The Appendix does describe these efforts. The Windsor Report notes that this submission “will have an important contribution to make to the ongoing discussion.” We are grateful for the opportunity to make that contribution and offer this paper in a spirit of humility and in the interest of strengthening our bonds of mutual affection. In the Gospel of John Jesus tells his disciples: “I still have many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…He will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:12-14). It is my hope that the life we share in the gospel will be guided by the Spirit of truth, who works among us new understandings drawn from the immeasurable riches of Christ who is our Truth. The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold Presiding Bishop and Primate The Episcopal Church, USA Part I “To Set Our Hope on Christ”: A Response to the Invitation of Windsor Report ¶135 Part I: Introduction [1.0] Greetings from your brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, members of his Body in the Episcopal Church. We give thanks to God, and rejoice with you all, for the immeasurable love of God poured out for us in the redemption
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