The future of the future?

When Marcel Duchamp painted ‘The Passage from Virgin to Bride’ in 1912 New York was still deeply in shock from the loss of the unsinkable Titanic earlier in the year. On April 15, 1912 headlines had read: ‘God Himself Could Not Sink This Ship.’ Yet, all it took was an iceberg in the darkness to shake man’s faith in technology. Perhaps the 6th May suffrage marches in the city similarly shook the pscyhe of the men of the city? Yet by 1917 the women of New York had the right to vote.

Sara Bard Field is said to have had conventional beginnings as a Baptist missionary wife. It is recorded that “she gradually evolved intellectually, emotionally and spiritually” finding the love of her life, working for suffrage and the right to birth control.

In 2010, once again icebergs are causing sleepness nights as temperatures heat up and polar ice caps continue to melt. This time perhaps young women are in danger of asking for ‘presidencies’ (think Sarah Palin), equal participation at the UN and who knows what else?


5 thoughts on “The future of the future?

  1. Christine

    Yes. I heard that this was causing considerable angst…I include the following by way of introduction to the issues in question!

    Some arguments in favour of the move seem to be:

    1) it is a human right (for women) to be a bishop. The underlying philosophical position for this view is that women should be accorded the same opportunities as men in society.

    2) Scripture – “in Christ, as St Paul puts it in his letter to the Galatians, there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.”

    Some arguments against the move seem to be:

    1) Conscience – they do not believe that the Church of England, on its own, has the authority to make this change.

    2) Christian disunity – they feel that it would cause grave disunity within the Church
    of England and between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.

    Other:

    1) Timing – It might be right to appoint women bishops in the Church of England at some point in the future but wrong to do so now.

    For now:

    a) there were senior women priests whose Godgiven talents should now be exercised in the college of bishops
    b) the Church’s witness to the Gospel was rendered incredible in our
    society by its continuing discrimination against women (see 1)

    Against now:

    c) there are some in the church who are unable to accept this change

    2) Understanding of the role of bishop

    “We believe that a ministry of oversight (episkope), exercised in
    personal, collegial and communal ways, at all levels of the Church’s
    life, is necessary to witness to and safeguard the unity and apostolicity
    of the Church.” [Ecumenical Principle] relevant to roles of deacon, priest and bishop.

    [ http://www.cofe.anglican.org/info/papers/womenbishops.pdf ]

    Reply
  2. Tom Turner

    I had a friend who argued that in the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost), the Holy Ghost was the femine spirit: so the Trinity represents the archetypal family.

    Reply
  3. Tom Turner

    Water is another symbol of the Holy Spirit and if Christianity had had more influence on garden design, as well it might, then this could hae been an inspiration to garden designers.

    Reply

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