Just eleven years after approving the ordination of female bishops, the Church of England has now approved Sarah Mullally as the first woman Archbishop of Canterbury.
What do we know about Sarah Mullally?
She is a former nurse.
She is a proponent of the ordination of women, and a self-described feminist (redundant, I know).
She is a theological liberal.
Mullally has previously championed blessings for same-sex couples, a major source of contention in the global Anglican Communion. On LGBTQ issues the new archbishop supports welcoming practicing homosexuals in the church and blessing their unions.
Sarah Mullally is pro choice.
Dr. Gerald Bray, historian and theologian and one of the most respected voices among conservative Anglicans, held nothing back in an article for Evangelicals Now: “Undertrained and inexperienced, the only reason she became a bishop is that she was a woman when women were wanted and in short supply.” Sounds a lot like the Adventist church in North America, which is on a similar glide path.
Observations
Her predecessor, Justin Welby, resigned in the wake of a sex abuse scandal in which he was accused of taking inadequate action. The selection of Bishop Sarah to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury is seen as a response to that controversy in the church of England, though, given the liberal theological trajectory of the Church of England, the appointment of a woman to the highest clerical leadership position in the church was inevitable. It was just a matter of time, and, at the end of last week, that time came.
Conservatives in the Church of England—and there are a few brave ones left—are now put in a bind. Understandably, conservatives in the Anglican Communion are up in arms. Many expressed outrage at the appointment of Sarah Mullally to Canterbury, both for the fact that they do not recognize a woman as priest or bishop, and because this particular woman bishop is quite liberal.
While this is being celebrated as historic, it raises a serious concern: the new Archbishop openly supports abortion rights. For Christian believers, this is a major red flag. How can a shepherd of the Church deny the most vulnerable, children in the womb, their God-given right to life?
She is biblically unqualified for this position.
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A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet (1 Timothy 2:11–12).