Description
Christopher Craig Brittain offers a wide-ranging examination of specific events within The Episcopal Church (TEC) by drawing upon an analysis of theological debates inside the church, field interviews in church congregations, and sociological literature on church conflict. The discussion demonstrates that interpretations describing the situation in TEC as a Culture War between Liberals and Conservatives are deeply incorrect. Moreover, the book shows that the splits which are occurring inside the national church aren’t such a lot schisms within the technical sociological sense, but are more as it should be described as a familial divorce, with the entire ongoing messy entwinement that this term evokes.
The interpretation of the dispute offered by the book also counters prominent accounts offered by leaders within The Episcopal Church. The Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts-Schori, has portrayed some opponents of her theological positions and her option to ethical issues as being ‘fundamentalist’, whilst other ‘Progressives’ liken their opponents to the Tea Party movement.