Churches around the world have been confronted by shame and culpability in widespread revelations of child sexual abuse. In this book, Jeffrey Driver, who has served the Australian Anglican Church as both a diocesan bishop and archbishop, explores some of the underlying cultural and theological influences that may have predisposed the possibility of abuse, as well as the defensiveness and cover-ups that sometimes followed. The first responses of most churches to the revelations of abuse were, of necessity, mostly structural and programmatic. Recognizing the institutional temptation to do only enough to settle a crisis, Jeffrey Driver calls for something different from the churches. Drawing on the imagery of Holy Saturday, he encourages a deeper journey of reflection and change, for churches and church leaders to linger reflectively in the grey spaces of loss and shame long enough to hear the voice of God addressing them through the vulnerable and the wounded once more, calling the church back to itself and into a deeper, humbler relationship with the world it is called to serve.
At an international level, Anglicanism has almost no mandating or juridical power. Stresses and threats of division over issues such as human sexuality have resulted in moves to enhance the Communion's central structures and instruments. However, it is becoming clear that there is little likelihood of substantial change in this direction succeeding, at least in the medium term. The challenge for Anglicanism is to make a "polity of persuasion" work more effectively. This volume seeks to identify some trends and shifts of emphasis in Anglican ecclesiology to serve that end. Jeffrey Driver argues that there is more at stake in such an exercise than Anglican unity. In an ever-shrinking, pluralist, and conflicted world, where oneness is often forced by dominance, the People of God are called to model something different. The injunction of Jesus, "it is not so among you," challenged his followers to use power and live in community in a way that contrasted with what occurred "among the Gentiles" (Mark 10:41-45). This is why the sometimes tedious debates about authority and structure in the Anglican Communion could actually matter--because they might have something to say about being human in community, about sharing power and coexisting, about living interdependently on a tiny and increasingly stressed planet. The Anglican experiment in dispersed authority, for all its grief, could be a powerful gift.
At an international level, Anglicanism has almost no mandating or juridical power. Stresses and threats of division over issues such as human sexuality have resulted in moves to enhance the Communion's central structures and instruments. However, it is becoming clear that there is little likelihood of substantial change in this direction succeeding, at least in the medium term. The challenge for Anglicanism is to make a "polity of persuasion" work more effectively. This volume seeks to identify some trends and shifts of emphasis in Anglican ecclesiology to serve that end. Jeffrey Driver argues that there is more at stake in such an exercise than Anglican unity. In an ever-shrinking, pluralist, and conflicted world, where oneness is often forced by dominance, the People of God are called to model something different. The injunction of Jesus, "it is not so among you," challenged his followers to use power and live in community in a way that contrasted with what occurred "among the Gentiles" (Mark 10:41-45). This is why the sometimes tedious debates about authority and structure in the Anglican Communion could actually matter--because they might have something to say about being human in community, about sharing power and coexisting, about living interdependently on a tiny and increasingly stressed planet. The Anglican experiment in dispersed authority, for all its grief, could be a powerful gift.
Churches around the world have been confronted by shame and culpability in widespread revelations of child sexual abuse. In this book, Jeffrey Driver, who has served the Australian Anglican Church as both a diocesan bishop and archbishop, explores some of the underlying cultural and theological influences that may have predisposed the possibility of abuse, as well as the defensiveness and cover-ups that sometimes followed. The first responses of most churches to the revelations of abuse were, of necessity, mostly structural and programmatic. Recognizing the institutional temptation to do only enough to settle a crisis, Jeffrey Driver calls for something different from the churches. Drawing on the imagery of Holy Saturday, he encourages a deeper journey of reflection and change, for churches and church leaders to linger reflectively in the grey spaces of loss and shame long enough to hear the voice of God addressing them through the vulnerable and the wounded once more, calling the church back to itself and into a deeper, humbler relationship with the world it is called to serve.
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