7/12/2008

Telegraph Top Ten power flows in the Anglican Communion

The Telegraph has telegraphed its findings for the top ten influential people in the Anglican Communion. No great surprises here, except we note that the top place holders are equally divided between the GAFCON crowd and the regulars excepting of course that the regulars did not invite Bishop Robinson into their fold for the Lambeth confab. Interestingly Bishop Venables is listed as South American Primate, although he is no such thing. He is Primate of the Southern Cone, there being at least one other SA Primate - that of Brazil, and a Primate with South American dioceses, namely The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. Speaking of bishops...all the top ten are bishops... it must be an Episcopal crowd. Oh well.


1. Rowan Williams - Archbishop of Canterbury
2. Katherine Jefferts Schori - Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the US
3. Peter Akinola - Archbishop of Nigeria
4. Gene Robinson - Bishop of New Hampshire
5. Henry Orombi - Archbishop of Uganda
6. Desmond Tutu - Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town
7. Greg Venables - South American primate
8. Peter Jensen - Archbishop of Sydney
9. Michael Nazir-Ali - Bishop of Rochester
10. John Sentamu - Archbishop of York

The remainder of the whole list of 50:

11. Tom Wright - Bishop of Durham
12. Drexel Gomez - Archbishop of West Indies
13. Kenneth Kearon - secetary-general of Anglican Consultative Council
14. Gregory Cameron - Deputy secretary-general of Anglican Consultative Council.
15. Lord Carey - former Archbishop of Canterbury
16. Martyn Minns - missionary leader of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America
17. Philip Aspinall - Primate of Australia
18. Bonnie Anderson - Chair, the Episcopal Church House of Deputies
19. Marc Andrus - Bishop of California
20. Jenny Te Paa - Maori, New Zealand

21 Michael Ingham - Bishop of New Westminster
22. Nicky Gumbel . - founder of Alpha course, vicar of HTB
23 Giles Fraser - vicar of Putney
24. Mouneer Anis - Bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East
25. Benjamin Nzimbi - Archbishop of Kenya
26. John Chew - Bishop of Singapore, Archbishop of South-east Asia
27. Howard Ahmanson - Church funder
28. John Chane - Bishop of Washington
29. Lucy Winkett - canon at St Paul’s cathedral
30.Ian Douglas - professor of mission at Episcopal Divinity School, Lambeth Design Group.

31 Barry Morgan - Archbishop of Wales
32 Jane Williams - theologian
33 Philip Giddings - convener of Anglican Mainstream
34 Susan Russell - Integrity, USA
35 Paul Handley - editor, Church Times
36 Kendal Harmon - blogger
37 Bob Duncan - Bishop of Pittsburgh
38 Michael Poon - Singapore theologian
39 Ian Earnest - Primate of the Indian Ocean, Chairman of the Council of Anglican Provinces in Africa (CAPA)
40 Kathy Grieb - Episcopal Church theologian,

41 Jamie Calloway - vicar of Trinity Wall Street
42 Davis Mac-Iyalla - Changing Attitude, Nigeria
43 Chris Sugden - director of Anglican Mainstream
44 Esther Mombo - Dean of St Paul’s theological college, Kenya
45 Marily McCord Adams - Regius professor of divinity, Oxford University
46 Simon Sarmiento - blogger
47 Tom Butler - Bishop of Southwark
48 June Osborne - Dean of Salisbury
49 Norman Doe - Anglican lawyer
50 Ephraim Radner - Wycliffe Theological College Toronto, theologian.

Running tabs: M 40, F 10; US 13, Canada 2, UK 20, other 15; Bps 24. KbyMP (known by Mark of Preludium) 26.


16 comments:

  1. Excuse me!?!?

    > 8. Peter Jensen - Archbishop of Sydney

    In that case, Mark Sisk is Archbishop of New York and Jon Bruno is Archbishop of Los Angeles.

    I have watched the Telegraph's list with bemusement. The errors in their list are too numerous to cite, and they reveal a total ignorance of the structure of the Anglican Communion and its provinces.

    But it's been a rather fun series.

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  2. Interesting to note that besides +V. Gene Robinson, for obvious reasons, Bishop of California Marc Andrus is in the top 20 as the only other American diocesan bishop. I wonder why?

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  3. Wow, I think I hit the nail squarely. I was even thinking ++Tutu, but did not include him in my post in the other thread!

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  4. Lisa,
    Peter Jensen is Archbishop of Sydney. well he was last time I saw him.
    Check it out at
    http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/senior_clergy/archbishop_jensen/
    Anglican titles are not allocated consistently across the communion. Yes, its messy. But not that important, really..

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  5. Lisa Fox - yes indeed, Peter Jensen is the Archbishop of Sydney, just as Roger Herft is the Archbishop of Perth - that's how we title our Metropolitans here in Australia. The difference is that you in the USA do not consider your city bishops to be Metropolitans. That's just the way it is in our organisation in the Anglican Church of Australia, so you are the one who is mistaken Lisa Fox, and the ignorance is yours I'm afraid.

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  6. Do we know who, at the Telegraph, put together this list? Do we know if there were any Americans or Africans, for example, who contributed to how this list was compiled?

    Frankly, I'm stunned that Louie Crew isn't on the list. He still maintains a bishops list of hundreds of bishops around the world and posts on it at least every day. His work is like that of, say, Tutu who has been retired, but his influence will continue.

    I don't get it. I'm thinking this was a list put together by a committee and someone's favorite got voted off my majority rule

    Doesn't make the list accurate - only more human.

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  7. The Tory-graph is showing it's bias in this list. I can mostly agree with the actual names chosen, but the comments about them (especially in the top 10) make Fox News look like responsible journalists. In particular, I think that +Jerry Lamb would be interested to know that he is bishop of a diocese under the authority of ++Venables, and I didn't realize that ++Katherine was funding the property litigation out of 815 and enjoying it either.

    I ought to remember to take my phenergan before I try to read their religion coverage.

    The simian formerly known as J. Fred Muggs

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  8. Thanks for the gracious correction, Obadiahslope. You are ever the gentleman, even when I get testy.

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  9. Elizabeth, I thought they put together a good selection panel. According to the first piece in the Telegraph series, the panel included "the Rt Rev Nicholas Baines, Bishop of Croydon; Giles Fraser, vicar of Putney; Rachel Boulding, deputy editor, Church Times; Jim Naughton, communications officer for the Diocese of Washington; the Rev Canon Dr Jane Shaw, Fellow and Dean of Divinity of New College, Oxford; Andrew Carey, columnist, Church of England Newspaper."

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  10. Sorry about having an unavailable nickname. I get tired of fiddling with such things...

    How the list was drawn up - from Episcopal Cafe, July 9 -

    "The list was drawn up with the help of a panel, 'the Rt Rev Nicholas Baines, Bishop of Croydon; Giles Fraser, vicar of Putney; Rachel Boulding, deputy editor, Church Times; Jim Naughton, communications officer for the Diocese of Washington; the Rev Canon Dr Jane Shaw, Fellow and Dean of Divinity of New College, Oxford; Andrew Carey, columnist, Church of England Newspaper.' "

    Pamela Grenfell Smith
    Bloomington, Indiana
    www.baba-yaga.org

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  11. Dear Rev. Dr. TELP,
    From the Telegraph the panel includes:
    • the Rt Rev Nicholas Baines, Bishop of Croydon
    • Giles Fraser, vicar of Putney
    • Rachel Boulding, deputy editor, Church Times
    • Jim Naughton, communications officer for the Diocese of Washington
    • the Rev Canon Dr Jane Shaw, Fellow and Dean of Divinity of New College, Oxford
    • Andrew Carey, columnist, Church of England Newspaper.

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  12. I am glad to see that our Katharine is in the number 2 spot.

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  13. Interesting. Not a single African appears among the people listed in this panel. I wonder how it would differ if it was done by a newspaper on the continent where most Anglicans actually live?

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  14. Nearly all of these folks are ordained. Dr. Williams would be pleased -- me not so much.

    I should also have expected Louie Crew, several other journalists of one stripe or another and based on the carping one reads on several blogs -- Bp. Spong.

    FWIW
    jimB

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  15. For an allegedly African movement the tally certainlky supports what GAFCON critics have been saying all along - that this is very much a Western/First World fight.

    One amusing point is Howard Ahmanson's description as a "church funder". Perhaps "Christian Reconstructionist" or "Rushdoony Disciple" were too close to the truth for The Torygraph?

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  16. A couple of thoughts:

    First of all, I don't think that these are the most influential Anglicans as much as they are the most visible Anglicans. There's not a lot of sense of those who have influence behind the scenes (with the possible exception of Ahmanson, whose behind-the-scene-ness has been exposed). Where are the theologians and teachers whose reach is further than might be apparent at first blush?

    Second, this is a very individualistic list, as is the case with any list of this nature. But it certainly removes any sense of collaboration or collective action that has far more lasting influence on the Anglican Communion than this list would suggest.

    Third, not only is it a cleric-heavy list and a bishop-heavy list, it's a primate-heavy list. I'm not sure if that says more about the Telegraph's establishment leanings or the church's continued top-down structure. For all our talk, at least in the American church, about the ministry of the laity, that is not represented here. The list suggests that you have to work your way to the top to have influence.

    One thing I like about the list is that if you look at the Africans represented side by side, you can see that "African Church" is not a monolith with a single point of view. Whether or not they are underrepresented, the Africans on this list show the spectrum of thought on the African continent.

    Laura

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OK... Comments, gripes, etc welcomed, but with some cautions and one rule:
Cautions: Calling people fools, idiots, etc, will be reason to bounce your comment. Keeping in mind that in the struggles it is difficult enough to try to respect opponents, we should at least try.

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