Eames Commission Identifies Unresolved Theological Issues Surrounding Women in the Episcopate
Episcopal News Service. November 8, 1989 [89221]
At its third meeting, the Archbishop of Canterbury's Commission on Communion and Women in the Episcopate heard responses to its report, presented to Anglican Primates at their meeting in Cyprus in May, and suggested that a new theological commission deal with continuing issues.
In his covering letter to Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie after its October meeting in London, the commission's chairman, Archbishop Robin Eames of Ireland, said that "members of the commission felt quite strongly that there is a need to monitor the development of attitudes and decisions being made on women in the episcopate."
The commission recommended that a new Inter-Anglican Theological and Doctrinal Commission be appointed to study continuing issues, such as the influence of culture on the church's understanding of revelation, the process by which the church "receives" changes in its understanding of God's ultimate will for the church, provincial interdependence and autonomy, and further explorations in the relation between communion and truth.
Responses have been received from 10 provinces so far, indicating that the commission report has been helpful in efforts to maintain the highest possible degree of communion while different churches in the Anglican Communion discuss women in the episcopate. "I think the replies have been holy replies," said Dr. Mary Tanner, a Church of England theologian who is a member of the commission. The report said that a spirit of respect and courtesy are particularly important "as a recognition of the tension and pain being experienced by so many throughout the Anglican Communion at this time."
The commission "received with gratitude the statement of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church," adopted unanimously at its September meeting in Philadelphia. The statement drew heavily on the Eames Commission Report. The House of Bishops statement affirmed all women "in the ministries they exercise in and through the church" but also acknowledged that "within Anglicanism those who believe that women should not be ordained hold a recognized theological position" and are "loyal members of the family."
"I was very impressed with the spirit of courtesy and respect at the House of Bishops meeting," said Tanner. "There was an enourmous amount of affection between bishops who disagree, but that affection doesn't lessen the pain -- in fact, it makes it more painful, because the disagreement comes between people who really care about each other." Tanner suggested that the same kind of warmth and affection allows the Eames Commission to "explore differences together" and to "model that affection" for the larger Anglican Communion.
The Rt. Rev. Mark Dyer, bishop of Bethlehem, a member of the commission, said that the commission also initiated discussion on women as diocesan bishops. "We want to anticipate that eventuality and be prepared," he said. Bishop Dyer said that the commission also clarified its position on the concepts of reception and provisionality, interpreted by some opponents of women's ordination as suggesting that their ordination may be rejected by the church.
In a interview, Dyer said, "The critical issue is communion and truth, a question of whether or not we must agree on all aspects of theology before we can be in communion with each other. Or does the truth emerge from koinonia, our relationship with God and each other? Koinonia is at the service of truth, not the other way around. So we must work out the theological issues together."
"We need to explore the relationship of those parishes and parish priests who are against the ordination of women and therefore who would be unable to accept the jurisdiction of a woman diocesan,"Tanner said. "At stake is the collegiality of the bishops in the Anglican Communion." Tanner pointed out that "some bishops have said they will not attend the [next] Lambeth Conference if women diocesan bishops attend."
Tanner reported that the Eames Commission has underscored an earlier resolution by the 1988 Lambeth Conference to call for an inter-Anglican doctrinal commission. "The question of women in the episcopacy has raised other issues. These are really questions of authority and the evolving structures of authority in the Anglican Communion. An appropriate place to deal with such questions would be an Inter-Anglican doctrinal commission," according to Tanner.
Tanner was careful to point out that such a commission would not "have the implications of an infallible teaching office like the Roman Catholic magisterium," but that "we really do need an Anglican community of interpretation and teaching." She insisted that "we get nearest to the heart of matters when we have the broadest community of interpretation."
At the heart of unresolved issues is the question of authority in the Anglican Communion. "How do you perceive the truth?" is the question that must be addressed, said Tanner. "We must explore the relation of tradition to the contemporary world," she continued. "The tradition has to be brought into dialogue with contemporary experience and insights."
"Sometimes the tradition affirms -- and other times judges -- contemporary experience. And sometimes contemporary experience enables you to see things, to plumb the hidden depths of tradition," Tanner said.