Whatever you think about the ongoing debate in the Church of England about the proposed Ordination of women as Bishops, whatever side you take theologically, you have to agree that Melanie McDonagh has a point in this comment:
http://www.standard.co.uk/comment/thats-enough-flannel-about-women-bishops-7932087.html
I cannot really see what the argument is about: once you have ordained a woman to the diaconate the road to the episcopacy is open, at this point the theological argument is done.
As it happens, I remain unconvinced about the ordination of women, not least given the arguments are often made from a particular view of equality which seems to equate the word with 'sameness', which is a bizarrely lazy philosophical proposition. I know I could give a much better case for the Ordination of women than some I have heard, and in that sense I am open to being convinced. However, I back away whenever I hear the argument that suggests that Jesus did not choose women at the time due to the 'culture' - you see everybody, Jesus who sat at the well talking to the Samaritan woman, who spent time with Zacchaeus the tax-collector and saving a woman from being stoned. Jesus the one who was tortured and died for us was, apparently, scared of upsetting social norms.
Such tosh undermines our Saviour and leaves me cold and ever further from the 'greasy pole climbers pushing for episcopal ordination'. Not my words, but those of an Anglican priest friend of mine despairing of the present debate, and she is no knee-jerk Conservative.
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