“A Horrible Position to Be In”

Excerpt from a comment by Dale Rye, an occasional but always insightful poster, at the TItusOneNine blog:

It is my guess that the broad majority of Episcopalians hold to core Christian
values such as the inspiration of Scripture, belief in the articles of the
Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, the efficacy of the sacraments, and the historic
threefold ministry.

We would reject positions that go significantly outside that
core; people like Bishops Pike and Spong are simply off the radar. We are very
uncomfortable with the postmodernist tilt of large segments of the Episcopal
Church today.

However, we would also reject positions that impose one particular
interpretation of the core issues and regard all other interpretations as
outside the bounds of orthodoxy.

For example, we believe that Christians
encounter the Real Presence of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the Holy
Eucharist, and probably believe in some particular theory (ranging from
Transubstantiation to Receptionism) to explain that Presence, but we would not
insist that other Christians share our theory to join us at God’s Table.

We
believe that Jesus became incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, but
we would not insist as a precondition of reciting the Creed with other
Christians that they share our opinion on the particular mechanism that
accomplished the Incarnation.

Likewise for the Atonement–we might hold any of a
variety of historical interpretations of how Christ accomplished our
salvation, but would be willing to share fellowship with anyone who believed
that Christ saved us.

So, we are also very uncomfortable with the
doctrinal narrowness of large segments of the Episcopal Church today that would
impose particular evangelical or Catholic interpretations of the core doctrines
to the exclusion of all others.

We enjoyed the intellectual excitement of debate
within a worldwide communion that had room for the Church Society, the
Anglo-Catholic Congresses, and the Modern Churchpeople’s League.

*  *  *

No, the extremists aren’t the majority of either the Red or Blue camps, but they
are the loudest.

In a comprehensive Anglicanism, the extreme voices tended to
drown one another out; in an “Anglicanism” that is torn in two, they will become
the public faces of their respective denominations.

We moderates will be
identified with people whose views we were willing to tolerate, but can never
embrace.   We will be increasingly forced to either embrace their views or
compound the schism by leaving. It is a rather horrible position to be in. Our
only hope is Grace.

(Paragraphing edited.)