Williams, Wright, Wilson
2008 March 4
Due to the Anglican presence here at City of God, I wondered if a discussion about Archbishop Rowan Williams’ recent interview on Sharia Law in Britain might be interesting. What do we think of his advocacy of a sort’ve piecemeal Sharia Law for British Muslims?
Further to this, maybe we could also include in our discussion Bishop N.T. Wright’s defence of Williams and how this seemingly pluralistic stance appears to be a switch in his soteriology.
A jumping off point for this discussion might be Douglas Wilson’s recent critique of bishops Williams and Wright.
The lacerating sarcasm in Wilson’s criticism makes me think that he sort of gave into whatever bile rose in him when he first read about the story and has yet to recover. Williams appears to have been giving a serious technical discussion on law and Wilson wanted it to be more like, well, I’m not sure what, perhaps a big-tent revival?
A great way to ensure that Christian leaders are never included in serious academic discussions is for them to turn every speaking engagement on any topic into an altar call. Williams was addressing a timely subject in a serious fashion.
Lacerating sarcasm is what makes Wilson Wilson (and funny for that matter). The question for him, and for me, is the nature of religious pluralism involved, to whatever degree, both in Williams’ lecture/interview and Wright’s defense of it. I doubt if that’s big-tent revival, or more just the desire to keep the “matters of first importance” of first importance.
It strikes me, and I understand it’s only a metaphor, that Wilson is the last guy to have an altar call.
You’re right, Williams is addressing a timely subject, especially for Brits, but I guess the question that follows is, is Williams addressing it in a biblical manner? That’s what I am hoping is discussed at City of God.
Part of my previous comment is giving Wilson his own medicine