MOWatch dedicates a new book to Patricia Brennan...and it's called..."Preachers, Prophets & Heretics: Anglican Women's Ministry"

Looking forward to reading it from afar

Preachers, Prophets & Heretics: Anglican Women's Ministry is edited by Elaine Lindsay and Janet Scarfe (UNSW Press, 2012), and has been published to mark the 20th anniversary in 2012 of the ordination of women as priests in the Anglican Church in Australia. In it, key supporters of women's ordination and astute observers analyse and reflect on the controversy, its context and some of its consequences from their particular stand-points. The eighteen contributors include lawyer Keith Mason, Bishops Keith Rayner and Peter Carnley, MOW president Janet Scarfe, campaigner Muriel Porter, priests Elizabeth Smith and Peta Sherlock, intercessor Janet Nelson, academic Heather Thomson, and historians Peter Sherlock, David Hilliard and Anne O'Brien. The span is far wider than the dioceses where 'it' happened. Considerable attention is given to the Diocese of Sydney.

The Anglican Church League says...Sydney Anglicans are not sexist...it's just that Sydney Anglican theology is based upon the authentic Biblical concept of 'Protect and Submit' instead of 'Unconditional Love'.

 

The Sydney Anglican Church League says that Sydney Anglicans are not sexist, and that the ABC ran with it's story about submissive Anglican wives because it was hard up for stories! And isn't that typical of  Sydney Anglicans to downplay stories that relate to the denigration of women? 

No... Sydney Anglicans are just misunderstood ... and all they are really trying to do is mirror the Sydney Anglican Diocese's relationship with a God. The fear-based relationship that says God will love and protect you as long as you submit to Him.

This concept when applied to marriage, transforms itself into a relationship of inequalities, where  the role of a male is to protect His defenseless wife (just like God protects His defenseless Sydney Anglican men ) ...just as long as His wife remains submissive to His thoughts and actions, regardless of the integrity attached to these... and this is because Sydney Anglican Men  incarnate God and women don't! 

So does the Sydney Anglican wife surrender herself totally and adopt the personal and spiritual truth of her husband... regardless of His intellectual and emotional capacity ...and all because he mimics God in the relationship?

If she marries a man who has Aspergers Syndrome ...then does she see the world as black and white as he does?

If she marries a man who suffers from depression and anxiety, then does she only ever see and experience a world of darkness that is based on fear?

If she marries a gay man who is repressing his sexuality to be accepted by Sydney Anglicans, then does she ever experience real passion and romantic love, and does she have to remain in an unfulfilling relationship?

If her spouse has an intellectual delay, then does she have to drop her IQ and go on a disability allowance too ... all because he has to lead when dancing?

And if her spouse dies ...does she have to rely on the charity of others... because she no longer has the skills to earn a living and feed herself and her family?

If only Sydney Anglicans had based their theology on God's unconditional love, then the culture of the diocese would have be more loving and inclusive, and women and men would have been  created compatible within the church and marriage, without the need for regulatory behaviours to be placed upon people.  It seems like Sydney Anglicans have learnt nothing from history, and still rely on the submission of women to moderate their men's behaviour. If you are not convinced, then just mention the name Muriel Porter in Sydney circles, and watch the men gnash their teeth and growl with displeasure; or reflect back to the 2008 Sydney Synod where the male clergy gave Narelle Jarrett a standing ovation for declaring herself unsuitable for ordination as a single woman, because she didn't have a penis. 

Sydney Anglicans have developed a flawed kind of 'separationist theology' and  have trumpheted it as Biblically authentic because it parallels the oppressive treatment of  women as described in Biblical times ...the type of unjust stereotypical behaviours that Jesus opposed.

Separationist theologies produce separationist societies, and from them come separationist pathologies. Pathologies like the ones associated with the deaths of  these women, and the attitudes of those who judged them as deserving of their fate.  The "she made me do it" mentality, which absolves violent men from taking responsibility for their violent actions against women.  I'm sure Sydney Anglicans would much rather Samantha's story.

 

Calam... what's with the picture... don't you know anything? Sydney Anglicans are not evolutionists...they didn't come from apes!

Really Bill... Is that why that nice Mr Ould got so angry with Fr David Heron, when he implied that Sydney women like Mr Ould's wife, were behaving like trained gorillas. Bill...you know how Phillip Jensen created the MTS as a prerequisite to ministry....well I reckon mixing in the real world is a prerequisite to preaching! 

 

Yes Calam... Fr David Heron's humour made the point ...but missed the mark a fraction...he really  should have said that Sydney Anglican women are trained to behave like Martha who was prepared to reinforce the societial inequalities that Jesus opposed.

Well Calam and Bill... I knew them Sydney Anglicans never came from apes...I reckon that Mars launch will find their ancestors! Fancy calling a Sydney Anglican woman's behaviour stupid or like that of a trained gorilla... it is offensive to stupid people and gorillas!

Sydney Anglican women no longer promise to obey...they now vow to submit

I wonder if the church feels like this when it submits to God?

 

Sydney Anglican women will be promising to submit to their husbands under a new marriage vow  written by the diocese's liturgical panel, which has the imprimatur of the Archbishop, Peter Jensen.
Kevin Giles, a New Testament scholar in Melbourne, says... Jesus does not once mention the subordination of woman and says much in contradiction to this. Paul's comments over the subordination of women fit into the patriarchal culture of the day and are not the biblical ideal. The truth is that happy marriages today are fully equal, and unhappy marriages are ones where one or the other party is controlling.
Muriel Porter, a Melbourne academic and laywoman who writes on Anglican Church issues, said... submit was a more derogatory word than obey and had connotations of slavery. ''Frankly I'm horrified,'' she said. ''It is a very dangerous concept, especially in terms of society's propensity for domestic violence.''

Missy...Sydney Anglicans are a progressive group who don't think wives have to obey by carrying out the demands placed upon them by their husbands... That's because that might mean a woman may still retain some indepenent thought and spirit... No Missy...Sydney Anglicans want women to surrender themselves to the will and authority of a man, thus removing their identiry completely.


Now Missy when you marry me ... remember that sound Sydney Anglican theology...The male always leads, even if he's not necessarily the best dancer ... or knows how to dance at all!

It might sound like Peace talks.... but could you really trust a Sydney Anglican to put down the Biblical weaponary?

Mark Thompson, ex-president of the Anglican Church League posts an article on The Anglican Church League's and The Briefing's website calling for a way of avoiding an evangelical war. An extract chosen for The Briefing's website reads like this... Recognise that those who disagree with you on this particular theological point are people for whom Christ died. They are inestimably precious in his sight. They must not be regarded or treated as mere theological canon fodder. Even when you are convinced they are seriously in error they must be treated with respect and gentleness. 

Mark's in serious trouble Bill...He's gone soft! Any Sydney Calvinist knows that the way the West was won, was by waging war against those who were different by ultimately driving them off their land.


I wouldn't worry too much Calam...I noticed that Phil Ashey over at The Anglican Church League, is displaying evangelical solidarity with his article... Beware of Anglicans Baring Gifts . As he said Calam...it's not the intolerance that evangelicals display towards LGBT people ...but the lack of discrimination and disgusting inclusiveness of liberals, that has caused the Anglican Communion crisis . But Calam...all is not lost because Phil ain't ever going to be involved in any form of reconcilation with them liberals, as reflected in his quote about them... "This is like an arsonist’s victim saying ‘What is surprising and heartening is that we are in conversation with the arsonist, and that even though our house has burned down the conversation has been a great learning experience for all of us.’


Quick Martha...collect all those Bible passages so we can attack those heretics...you know all those homosexual and non-complementarian advocates!

Phillip Jensen gives an example of an oxymoron...Apolegitic Evangelism

 

Bill ... does Phillip Jensen mean that evangelicals never have to say they're sorry because they're always right?

I reckon so Calam...I've got a couple of oxymorons for you ...
arrogant Christians...humble Sydney Anglicans...spend thrift Calvinists... submissive liberation of women... Sydney Anglicans care for those with same sex attraction  

Say Ennis... do you reckon Phillip Jensen's quote is an oxymoron..." Evangelism doesn’t simply speak the truth, it also changes lives and societies; from worse to better."

Only if "ignorant evangelical" is an oxymoron...and the words are not synonyms!

Sydney Anglicans hold their LCM mini 'anti-gay conference' at a non-denominational church which advertises the Sydney Anglican website and Matthias Media ...and uses the denominational Anglican Church in Petersham as its worship venue!

A group called the Fellowship for Evangelism in the Visual Arts (FEVA) is hosting Liberty Christian Ministries Inc's 'same- sex, pseudo mental health/Biblical' mini-conference. The conference is being run by two Sydney Anglicans, eventhough LCMI is registered as non-denominatinal. FEVA is advertised as a non-denominational group who worship every Sunday night at 6.30 pm at All Saints Anglican Church in Petersham. This non-denominational group only advertises Sydney Anglicans and Matthias Media, as being suitable denominational resources, eventhough it works with 12 denominations. FEVA developed Outreach Media in 2007, a non-denominational Christian organisation that exists to "promote Jesus". The most significant undertaking of Outreach Media to date is the work of Outreach Posters, where FEVA partners with nearly 120 churches from over 12 denominational groups around Australia to produce and deliver thought provoking Christian posters on a monthly basis. Interestingly enough Outreach Posters advertise Sydney Anglican, Phillip Jensen's Two Ways to Live on its website.

So come along and join a non-denominational group of artists who advertise Sydney Anglican and Matthias Media resources, worship on Anglican property and fulfil  their Ministry Training Scheme (MTS) cadetship as a member of FEVA ....by listening to two Sydney Anglicans (one a Moore College lecturer) speak on behalf of a non-denominational organisation like LCMI on how to respond to SSA as Sydney Anglicans do! Oh and by the way come along to FEVA's Petersham's Evening Church and hear Haydn Sennitt and David Peterson speak about SSA...at a time when FEVA doesn't hold its hold its church service and Bible study! ...And isn't it any wonder the numbers in the Anglican Church are dropping ... Peter Jensen's mission must have been  about encouraging 10% of the Sydney Anglican population to become private evangelical entreprueners !

Will Anglican Mainstream and Sydney Anglicans take a leaf out of Cameroon's Book and celebrate 'Gay Hate Day"?

 

 

Citizens of the central African nation of Cameroon celebrated their first national ‘Gay Hate Day’ on Tuesday.The negative parody of gay pride parades was organised by the Rassemblement de la Jeunesse Camerounaise association (Cameroonian Youth Rally – RJC) and was held in the capital, Yaoundé, despite outcries from many human rights leaders across Africa.

In a statement issued by the RJC, an organisation that proudly boasts of hatred for homosexuality, it said that the aim of the parade was to glorify homophobia and vow to make it an annual event.

Ennis...do you think Chris Sugden might organise a 'Gay Hate Day'? I mean he's tried the 'Gay Leper Conference' and the 'Not Gay, Post- Gay, Ex-Gay' Bus campaign ... so this campaign might be a real goer for him. He might be able to organise protesters to partake in a fried chicken 'eat-in' at the same time!

Yeah Jake ... and maybe those two Sydney Anglicans who run Liberty Christian Ministries Inc might be able to organise a "Gay Hate Day" to coincide with the launch of their anti- gay curriculum for schools.