Why Many “Orthodox” Episcopalians, Aren’t

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There’s a big dispute going on in the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion, between the so-called “orthodox” believers and the so-called “revisionists.” The specific dispute is over whether the church should bless same-sex relationships and ordain gay priests and bishops. But the more general dispute is over theological matters (especially the primacy of Scripture as authority).

The orthodox frequently point out that the very word “orthodox” means “right-thinking.” And indeed, the dictionary describes the word orthodox as deriving from the Greek orthos, straight, correct, right; and doxa, opinion (from dokein, to think, to seem).

But what exactly is “right thinking”?

The orthodox feel that right thinking consists of holding the “correct” substantive theological views. In their minds, if a person can’t give intellectual assent to the Nicene Creed, that person is not right-thinking.

But “right thinking” may lie more in how one thinks than in what one thinks. Consider two hypothetical people whose thinking we must assess:

Suppose that Alice * holds views that we happen to deem sound on the merits. She is utterly convinced that she is right, to the point that nothing is likely ever to change her mind.
Suppose on the other hand that Bob’s views trouble us. But, he has shown in the past that he is willing to consider new information and new insights, and to rethink his views if that seems to be called for.

(* The names “Alice” and “Bob” are a standard nomenclature in cryptographic research, used to indicate one person sending an encrypted message to another.)

Which of these people is “right-thinking” — that is, orthodox?

Sadly, many Christians — in both the so-called orthodox and revisionist camps — are more like Alice than Bob.

Comments

4 responses to “Why Many “Orthodox” Episcopalians, Aren’t”

2004-10-23

Anony Mouse

I think you are missing “traditional” and “accepted” as meanings of “orthodox”. “Ortho” also means “regular” (as in “accepted”). With respect to your example, wouldn’t Alice be Orthodox and Bob, “heterodox”? Besides, “orthodox” in a Roman Catholic context has a different meaning and adherence to a different set of beliefs from other mainstream churches i.e. to say that an un-orthodox or heretical belief in one church could well be an orthodox belief in another.
No one is preventing ECUSA from espousing a “local” set of beliefs different from the mainstream as long as it doesn’t depart from the classical and traditional teaching (e.g the 1979 ECUSA prayer book is used only in the US (North America) while most of the Anglican Communion uses worship based on the 1928 prayer book). It is a problem only when this theology is used in conjunction within the context of classical Anglicanism that it becomes a problem because new theology is being introduced and given an air of respectability without discussion.

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2005-01-11

Charlie Brown

Orthodox means right glory, too.

Reply
2005-04-11

Deaon Paul

I’m sorry, but I cannot agree that orthodoxy can reside in how one thinks. One can always reason perfectly logically and come up with a perfectly wrong answer, simply by starting with incorrect premises and axioms. That should be obvious, especially to someone intelligently religious, where the identification and proper use of correct axioms is vital to any successful inference and theory.
In Christ,
Deacon Paul+

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2005-10-14

Faith Shives

Hi. I’m again feeling very alone & isolated & hurt as I was years ago. My husband & I signed up for Bible lessons. I am now finding out that we did it for did it for different reasons, which I didn’t at the time. The Bible is entirely different for Mark & everybody in the class than it is for me. I was raised in the Occult where the bible was used for violence. To the majority of other people the bible is for opposite purposes. Most people–including my husband now–don’t want to hear about my past. Their attitude is “Get over it.” Only a victime of violence knows that violence victims never “get over it.” It just makes us feel all the more isolated. Now I’m just regretting going too the Bible class–I wished that I’d never signed up for it in the first place, but of course I did & my husband wants to go with me. Each class is now more painful that the last. I get a knot in my stomach before I have to go to each class. And my husband is simply no longer understanding, & he is no help. Like I said, it just makes me feel more isolated from the church members & my husband. The class leader said, “We’re free and open here to hear whatever you want to say,” but they aren’t & they don’t & my husband isn’t & doesn’t. I’m especially feeling abandoned & betrayed by God because of his imbalance of the commandments in the old testament, no father/daughter incest ban, no protection of children and youngers against parents and eldersonly commands that put absolutely 100% of the power in the hands of the parents & elders. It is absolutely 100% one-sided. ***To my occult family & their associates these biblical commands were 100% a setup for children, youngers & women to become victims of violence. Unless you are a victime yourself or you are in the field of law enforcement or in the legislative branch or in child protective services, everybody & anybody else outside of this realm would be absolutely amazed what perpetrators use to do their deeds & then afterwards to cover their butts. I just feel so alone. I am sick & tired. Not only do people on the “outside” not understand–they don’t WANT to understand. I am writing to Episcopalians because I have had opposite experiences with them. I just don’t know what to do. Faith

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