The First Bishop of Pennsylvania

The sad news from the Diocese of Pennsylvania, puts me in mind of what the first Bishop of Pennsylvania did in his ministry. William White was the architect of the constitution of the Episcopal Church, became first bishop regularly ordained by English bishops, served as first Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, produced the standard reading list which formed clergy in the Episcopal Church for decades, and all the while continued in his role as rector of Christ & St. Peter's Churches in Philadelphia.

In considering the question of the identity and mission of a bishop and priest, White writes on his method. His method includes, "reference to the Scriptures, the only rule of faith; to primitive antiquity, as throwing light on Scripture, and helping to the interpretation of it; and to the institutions of the Episcopal Church, with a view to the consistency to be expected of those, who are or intend to be of the number of her ministers." He ultimately argued for the earliest sense of the identity of presbyters and bishops - that they share in the sacerdotal ministry of Christ insofar as all the baptized do - but not moreso. Hear, hear.

But more important to me than his theological outcome, I like White's method. Which is so quintessentially Anglican. I yearn for more of our leaders - in all orders - to dig in to the Anglican tradition of reasonably considering the Word of God in Scripture, by light of the early traditions of the Church, and also by the light of later traditions of the Church.

Just as White was neither a 'conservative' nor a 'liberal' exactly in his time - neither does this method belong to either party now, however they may more ably be defined. For example, when I think of the theological writings of William Stringfellow of a generation past, and his great regard for the Word of God in Scripture, and the traditions of the Church, and the value of human minds made in God's image, I am made glad for Anglicanism. In exactly the same way, I regard the work of an Ephraim Radner today, or an N.T. Wright, or a Verna Dozier, or a Michael Curry, or an Ellen Charry. To paraphrase the opening words of All in the Family, "We Could Use a Man Like Michael Ramsey Again."

I am not an ideological 'conservative' by any means. Nor a 'liberal.' But I think this rather tried and true method of White's discernment (inherited from Hooker, Jewel, and so forth) is a hallmark of the Episcopal Church, as with the Church of England before. And it still will serve us best.

I find it sad that any church, let alone an entire diocese, should be forced to attend to the kinds of nonsense, power struggles, and wrangling which have so surrounded the current sad case of White's successor, for years.

My prayer is for the Diocese of Pennsylvania.