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Article: Anglicans endure despite divisions. (Anglican Communion Lambeth Conference '98)
- Article from:
- The Christian Century
- Article date:
- September 9, 1998
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 The Christian Century Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Once again, as in 1978 and 1988, the prophets of doom got it wrong in predicting that seemingly unbridgeable gaps in culture and theology would split the Anglican Communion. In 1978 the schismatic issue facing the world's Anglican bishops gathered for their once-a-decade Lambeth Conference was women priests. In 1988 the issue was women bishops. And this year, in the months leading up to Lambeth '98, the doomsayers said the communion could not hold together because of its radically differing views on homosexuality.
While the issue of homosexuality did dominate the three-week meeting that ended August 8 with a celebration of the Eucharist, it did not divide. The ...