The Bishops of Bland
Stephen Cottrell, the next Archbishop of York, was interviewed in The Times a couple of days ago. I suspect Cottrell will be pretty happy with the interview. As a liberal progressive in the church it hits a number targets he would like.
There's a lot to be frustrated about in the interview (I think David Baker's article does a good job commenting on those) and there's a lot for more conservative members of the clergy to be concerned about at Cottrell's appointment given his record with them in Chelmsford.
But the thing that bothers me the most is that by trying to please the world, Cottrell, who is not unusual among the bishops, nor the Church of England clergy, both throws away the gospel and makes Jesus and the church bland and irrelevant. The impression of the interview is that the church is a bit behind - whether on racism or LGBT rights - and what we need is more up-to-date bishop to drag it into the 21st Century when it will finally...well finally be what? Just like the world?
In the end, while bishops try and play catch-up they fail to have the 'vision' that Cottrell criticizes politicians for lacking. There is no big picture meta-narrative. And so everything is bitty catch-up with the culture to try and be popular. The church becomes like the nerdy kid who want to make friends with the cool kids in a 1980s high school movie!
The tragedy is that faithful, orthodox Christianity has this incredibly rich and deep worldview and meta-narrative at its heart - a worldview shaped by a perfect triune creator God, a rebellious and sinful humanity, a rescuing and redeeming Son and future hope beyond imagining. These realities mean we can speak with depth and authority into the world about the issues of the day, but more than that we have the answer to the underlying issue of all the issues - how do we sinful broken human beings in a world we broke find forgiveness, a relationship with God and a future hope.
But because Cottrell and so many of his contemporaries are more enamoured with the world than with God, they have lost connection with the head if they ever had it...And so they are the bishops of bland. And that's a tragedy.
- It's politically relevant. He gets to mention racism and Black Lives Matter in ways. He can talk about the need for moral and ethical leadership with a big vision in politics (while ironically being a bit coy about his own vision).
- He gets to sprinkle a bit of Christian stuff in there, but in a pretty gentle inoffensive way. Whether it's the need for the church to change or a bit about watching Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus changing his life he sprinkle his broadly 21st Century liberal attitudes with a bit of Jesus.
- He gets to be a bit edgy when he claims Jesus was a black man and would have approved of Black Lives Matter and when he talks about LGBT issues.
- He's portrayed as a man of the people, whether from his polytechnic education or his earthy language.
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| By fourthandfifteen - Installation of the Bishops of Barking and Colchester, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=87423474 |
I think it's probably pretty much what he was going for. Even the unfortunate safeguarding lapse is put in a favourable light, which has largely been the case with the press coverage of it (perhaps surprisingly?). This is ultimately the liberal way. They want to sprinkle whatever the current culture says with a bit of Jesus. They want to be popular with the world in the hope that the world we like them and who knows when they fancy a bit of spirituality they might think of church.
But the thing that bothers me the most is that by trying to please the world, Cottrell, who is not unusual among the bishops, nor the Church of England clergy, both throws away the gospel and makes Jesus and the church bland and irrelevant. The impression of the interview is that the church is a bit behind - whether on racism or LGBT rights - and what we need is more up-to-date bishop to drag it into the 21st Century when it will finally...well finally be what? Just like the world?
In the end, while bishops try and play catch-up they fail to have the 'vision' that Cottrell criticizes politicians for lacking. There is no big picture meta-narrative. And so everything is bitty catch-up with the culture to try and be popular. The church becomes like the nerdy kid who want to make friends with the cool kids in a 1980s high school movie!
The tragedy is that faithful, orthodox Christianity has this incredibly rich and deep worldview and meta-narrative at its heart - a worldview shaped by a perfect triune creator God, a rebellious and sinful humanity, a rescuing and redeeming Son and future hope beyond imagining. These realities mean we can speak with depth and authority into the world about the issues of the day, but more than that we have the answer to the underlying issue of all the issues - how do we sinful broken human beings in a world we broke find forgiveness, a relationship with God and a future hope.
But because Cottrell and so many of his contemporaries are more enamoured with the world than with God, they have lost connection with the head if they ever had it...And so they are the bishops of bland. And that's a tragedy.
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