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Marriage, Same-Sex Marriage and the Anglican Church of Australia

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Marriage, Same-Sex Marriage and the Anglican Church of Australia MARRIAGE, SAME-SEX MARRIAGE AND THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA Essays from the Doctrine Commission The Anglican Church of Australia THE DOCTRINE COMMISSION OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA Marriage, Same-Sex Marriage And The Anglican Church Of Australia: Essays From The Doctrine Commission Copyright © 2019, The Anglican Church of Australia Trust Corporation. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be re- produced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Broughton Publishing Pty Ltd 32 Glenvale Crescent Mulgrave VIC 3170 First Printing, June 2019 ISBN 978-0-6482659-4-8 Contents Foreword | Jonathan Holland 1 Context The debates over the doctrine of marriage in the Anglican Communion | Michael R Stead 9 The doctrine of marriage of the Anglican Church of Australia | Michael R Stead 31 A response: An alternative reading of BCP | Matthew Anstey 49 Scripture and Hermeneutics Scripture and moral reasoning | Matthew Anstey 57 Attentively reading scripture | Mark D Thompson 73 How does the Old Testament help us think about marriage and same-sex marriage? | Meg Warner 87 Belonging to God in relational wholeness | Katherine M Smith 105 Marriage, headship and the New Testament | Dorothy A Lee 123 Family ties: marriage, sex, and belonging in the New Testament | Claire Smith 139 History, Theology and Ecclesiology Christian marriage: a concise history | Muriel Porter 155 For better or for worse: The changing shape of marriage in Christian history? | Claire Smith 167 iii Friendship and religious life in the Bible and the church | Dorothy A Lee 185 Friendship and the trinity | Mark D Thompson 201 Steps towards a theological understanding of desire | G. J. Seach 207 To what end? The blessing of same-sex marriage | Rhys Bezzant 227 Disagreement and Christian unity: re-evaluating the situation | Stephen Pickard 241 The Case For and Against The case for same-sex marriage | Matthew Anstey 267 The case against same-sex marriage | Michael Stead 285 iv Foreword n September 2017 members of General Synod meeting in IMaroochydore, Queensland passed a motion asking Standing Committee to ‘facilitate a respectful conversation in our church by means of a collection of essays on marriage and same-sex rela- tionships that explore scriptural and theological issues relating to A. The doctrine of marriage expressed in the formularies of the Anglican Church of Australia B. Our current Australian context exploring the relationship between the state’s definition of marriage and the church’s doctrine of marriage C. Key Old Testament and New Testament texts on sex, marriage and friendship D. Scripture and hermeneutics E. A theology of blessing F. A theology of desire G. Godly disagreement on this issue H. The cases for and against same-sex marriage and/or the blessing of same-sex unions.’ This book is the response to that request. Discussing issues associated with same-sex marriage is fraught with difficulties. First, a number of those who identify with the LGBT+ community, as well as their families and friends, already feel marginalised or excluded from church life because of our current teaching and practice on marriage. They, more than many, have a personal investment in our response to the blessing of same sex unions. 1 Marriage, Same-Sex Marriage and the Anglican Church of Australia Whatever path we choose to follow, how do we be sensitive to their situation? Secondly, same-sex marriage (SSM) raises questions about the intersection between the State’s definition of marriage and the Church’s teaching on marriage. Thirdly, the blessing of same-sex marriage has become a contentious and vexed issue in the Anglican Communion. Advocates for and against are equally passionate. Some Anglican Provinces have enacted canons to allow their clergy to officiate at the weddings of same sex couples. Other Provinces have responded by consecrating bishops for those who have been alienated by this action and see it as a betrayal of the gospel. As a result there has been a tear in the fabric of the Communion. Finally, the need for the Anglican Church of Australia to express its mind on this issue became more urgent when late in 2017 the Australian Parliament amended the definition of marriage to enable same-sex marriage in Australia. This followed a national voluntary postal survey gauging support for same-sex marriage. Nearly 8 million Australians voted for the law to be changed, while 5 million voted against. How does the Anglican Church of Australia articulate its thinking to secular Australians that will carry respect? Members of the Doctrine Commission hold differing views on same-sex marriage. Those differing views and approaches are reflected in the various chapters. Three chapters are by scholars outside the Doctrine Commission, whose contributions provide an added depth and a gender balance. As you read a chapter—and even this foreword—it is important to understand that it represents the thinking of the author, not necessarily others on the Doctrine Commission (though each article has been much discussed by members of the Commission, 2 Foreword and all writers are grateful for the open discussions that led to further reflection and some rewritings). Each contributor has endeavoured to set out their thinking with as much clarity and integrity and faithfulness to Christ as they can in order to aid our collective discernment. The two final chapters for and against same-sex marriage sharpen the arguments and pick up some of the key themes in earlier essays. All chapters have been written with an eye to an irenic tone in order to facilitate an honest and respectful searching after God’s will in this matter. We are all trying to be faithful to God. It is important to note what the Doctrine Commission was not asked to do. It was not asked to look at the pastoral or liturgical response of the church, nor important related matters such as intersex or transgender or covenantal relationships, nor highlight the ‘lived experience’ of same-sex couples. We have framed the book in accordance with the motion from General Synod. What is here therefore is a partial contribution to a much wider conversation. It is helpful to put the SSM issue within two contexts. The first is the incredibly large scale and pace of social and cultural change in Australia, of which same-sex marriage is the latest manifestation. Hardly an institution or cultural norm has escaped transformation in the last fifty or sixty years. Think of the changing use of Sundays, once the sole preserve of the churches; or the shape of the family as living together, re-marriage, blended families and surrogacy have gained acceptance; or the percentage of women now in the workforce; or the more liberal attitudes to drinking and gambling; or the multicultural face of Australia’s cities and towns; or the revolution in communication with the advent of television, then the internet and now social media. The Anglican Church of Australia has had to wrestle with all of these changes. Some have not affected us very much; others have 3 Marriage, Same-Sex Marriage and the Anglican Church of Australia had to be accommodated, whether we like them or not and still others have excited substantial debate, some feeling the Church should resist a change as incompatible with the faith, others seeking to accommodate it as consistent with what we believe. The re-marriage of divorcees in churches and the ordination of women spring to mind. The debate then on our Church’s attitude to same-sex marriage is in response to a society that has been shifting seismically in recent decades in all sorts of ways and a Church trying to work out as faithfully as it can where it should stand in relation to this latest social shift. Secondly, behind the same-sex marriage debate lies a spiritual dilemma worth pondering. Given that we all pray to the same God, read the same Bible, recite the same Creeds and belong to the same church—given that it is the same Lord Jesus Christ who encounters each of us— then how is it that we come to such differing views on what Christ wants for us and his Church? How is it that many applaud the ordination of women as God’s will for his Church, while others see it as inconsistent with the Bible and contrary to the Divine will? How is it that some believe Christ sanctions the blessing of same-sex unions, while others believe that this is contrary to the mind of Christ and the teaching of Scripture? If we are all encountering the same Lord Jesus through Bible, prayer, sacraments and worship, then how is it that our understanding of what that encounter calls us to and demands of us can be so different? Part of the answer must be that we are finite human beings with limited understanding. We do not always get God’s will right. Although age and experience may increase our understanding and wisdom, we shall always remain finite people with a finite capacity to understand the mind of God. 4 Foreword More significantly, our background, experiences and conditioning distort the encounter with Christ. Sometimes we may think we are encountering Christ, when in fact we are limiting him to the scale of our biases, making him in effect someone who largely mirrors our background, experiences and cultural conditioning. As you read this book then it might be helpful to keep in mind that: y Firstly, our different perceptions of Christ’s will for us should remind us of our need to go on repenting and learning and growing.
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