An entirely different context

The Church of Nigeria, the second largest province in the Anglican Communion, is well known as of late for its theological and social conservatism. But it's important to remember that this exists in an utterly different cultural context than that of CANA and other U.S. conservative Anglican bodies--one in which, for instance, a bishop's family is repeatedly targeted with violent attacks. In such a situation, what would motivate you to liberalize/deliteralize your reading of a text filled with sectarian intensity, with hope for the oppressed faithful and judgment for their enemies? And even if you were sympathetic to more progressive ideas about sexuality, it'd be easy to place this a ways down your list of priorities. These factors, however, have almost nothing in common with the conservatism found in, say, Northern Virginia.

It's not at all clear if or how this marriage of convenience will sustain itself. Nor, for that matter, is it clear that many Episcopalian critics of Archbishop Akinola and his African allies have any sense of the context in which they read their scripture and do their theology.

For an extremely informative (and fairly neutral) look at the conflict in the Anglican Communion, see the recent Pew Forum event with Philip Jenkins.