I have two very good friends in the Anglican Church: one is Steve, Manchester diocesan interfaith advisor, whose views on most things are a closed book, but who is caring and loving and imbued with an impish wit. He has already featured on this blog, for he has done a great deal for the Jewish community in our area, and nationally.
The other is Canon Dr. Andrew Shanks, also very quiet, but a public intellectual and outstanding preacher, whose job at Manchester's Anglican Cathedral is to think on behalf of his Church.
Andrew has done two things that make him a towering figure in my eyes. He has publicly taken his friend (and former teacher), the ABC, to task for voting for divestment from Caterpillar at February's Synod. He has also brought bruiser and media pundit, Rev Dr. Giles Fraser (his former student) to see me, to sort of apologize for his verbal onslaught on rabbis, broadcast on Radio 4's Thought for the Day.
However, I wonder if somehow Andrew has been effective in another direction, seeing as he must be imbuing the strictly Orthodox atmosphere of Broughton Park, where we both live. Because if you access Ruth Gledhill's blog on the Archbishop of Canterbury's latest statement regarding the future of the Anglican Church, you will be privy to a theological masterpiece.
And the Archbishop's solution for the impending schism in that organisation is a covenantal relationship. So that just as we Jews feel able to argue with God on occasion (just witness Abraham on Sodom), no doubt a bit of argument for the sake of heaven will be entering the Anglican Church and they will maybe agree to differ in dignity on major issues, whilst still desiring to continue the relationship.
The Arcbishop's sermon on the Queen's 80th birthday marked a sea-change. Next, national CCJ, of which he is one of the Presidents, seems to have done a complete U-turn. But best of all, the liberals within the Church, including those at the top, appear to really want to engage and to recognise the place of the Bible (and not just the New Testament) in the life of the Church and to begin to include the Jewish dimension into their practice at all levels.
And although many people will no doubt think I am mad, I am convinced that Andrew may be right, and that the present Archbishop may well end up being considered one of the greatest this country has ever had.
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