What is the ecclesiological problem with a third province?

Posted on July 25, 2024 
Filed under Church of England, Culture wars

“In a letter of 2 July this year to the signatories of a letter from the Alliance group within the Church of England to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York the Bishop of Oxford wrote as follows:

‘The mind of the majority House of Bishops now seems to me to be settling on questions of pastoral reassurance after many months of uncertainty. There is a now a reluctant acceptance of the need for some regional provision of episcopal ministry to recognise divergent views on marriage and same sex relationships, supported by a House of Bishops statement, Code of Practice and Reviewer. However, the House is also clear that going beyond these arrangements to diverse jurisdictions, a third province and a church within a church undercuts the very essence of Anglican ecclesiology and represents a red line we cannot cross.’

The references in the final sentence of this quotation to ‘diverse jurisdictions,’ ‘a third province’ and ‘a church within a church’  are all different ways of referring to the same idea, the idea put forward by the Alliance and the Church of England Evangelical Council  (CEEC) that in the event that the House of Bishops and the General Synod continue down the path of permitting the blessing of same-sex sexual relationships and allowing those in same-sex sexual relationships to serve as ordained Church of England ministers, a third province of the Church of England should be created to provide a secure and permanent home for those who cannot in good conscience accept these developments.

The Bishop of Oxford rejects this idea on the grounds that it ‘undercuts the very essence of Anglican ecclesiology’ and therefore ‘represents a red line we cannot cross.’  What he does not explain in his letter, and what he has not explained elsewhere, is why the proposal for a third province goes against ‘the very essence of Anglican ecclesiology.’

It is very difficult to see why he thinks is the case. …”

– Martin Davie rules out possible arguments against ‘a third province’ in the Church of England.

Photo: Bishop of Oxford Steven Croft.