Albert Mohler: The Church, the Bible, and the Body of Christ
Friday, June 22, 2007

Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, faces an incredible challenge as he attempts to hold the worldwide Anglican Communion together. The communion is torn apart by debates over sexuality, biblical authority, and a range of related issues. Nevertheless, homosexuality stands as the most divisive issue of contention.

In the current issue of The Christian Century, the Archbishop raises some basic issues about the church. Though he offers no developed ecclesiology, his thinking does point to at least two reasons why his communion is having such difficulty holding together -- a wrong understanding of diversity and a weak affirmation of Scripture.

Williams refers to the church as "a community we can trust." As he explains, "Just as we can trust God because God has no agenda that is not for our good, so we can trust the church because it is the sort of community it is, a community of active peacemaking and peacekeeping in which no one exists in isolation or grows up in isolation or suffers in isolation." So good, so far, but surely there must be more than this? the rest photo