Anglicans/Marriage

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Expert: - 3/15/2011


Question
QUESTION: Do you think that gay marriage could be conducted in an Anglican church? If not, what theological basis should we exclude this? If we are to exclude it why do we allow divorce bearing in mind that Jesus forbade this and made no reference to homosexuality? I am asking this to gather different views and reasons for opinions. Thanks.

ANSWER: Jesus made no mention of homosexuality in the context of marriage, but the authority of the Old Testament, which he upheld, was that marriage was between a man and a woman. It would follow that a relationship between two men, or between two women, was not a marriage, whatever else it might be. It follows that so-called gay marriages should not be conducted in an Anglican - or any other Christian - church.

As for forbidding divorce, Jesus said in Matthew 5:31-32 that a marriage could only be dissolved when sexual imorality has occurred. Marriage is a serious commitment made before God and should not be taken lightly. But he didn't forbid divorce. In effect, although marriage was a life-long bond, which no man might put asunder, Christ's position can be explained alike this: marriage sometimes failed - a party to it was unchaste - thereby rendering it no marriage. We do no dissolve the bonds of marriage; the erring party does this himself or herself.

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QUESTION: Thank you for your answer. Surely if we upheld the law, teachings and morality of the OT we should stone adulteresses? Surely the spirit of the NT should override the barbarism of the OT?

Answer
Quite so, but in this case I think it would be fair to say that the very concept of two men marrying, or two women doing likewise, would be so alien to the experience of either Old Testament or New Testament times that it wouldn't have even been considered.

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Professor Noel Cox

Expertise

I can answer questions on theology, Anglican ecclesiology, and ecclesiastical and canon law.

Experience

I am Professor of Law, and a barrister (advocate). I am also undergoing training for ordination as a priest (in the Dioceses of St Davids and Auckland). Formerly based in New Zealand, from 2010 I have been head of the law school at Aberystyth University, Wales. I am a Distinguished Academic Associate of the Centre for Law and Religion, Cardiff University.

Organizations
Association of Lambeth Degree Holders; Australasian Law Teachers Association; Commonwealth Lawyers Association; Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans; Legal Research Foundation; The Australian and New Zealand Law and History Society; The Burgon Society (Fellow); Credo Cymru - Forward in Faith Wales; The Foundation of the College of St George; The Friends of Canterbury Cathedral; The Friends of Holy Trinity Cathedral, Parnell; The Friends of St Davids Cathedral; The Royal Historical Society (Fellow); The Society of King Charles the Martyr; The Society of Legal Scholars; The Ecclesiastical Law Society; Honourable Society of the Inner Temple; Affirming Catholicism; The Mission Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda; International Commission and Association on Nobility; Irish Peers’ Association; Centre for Law and Religion.

Publications
Church and State in the Post-Colonial Era: The Anglican Church and the Constitution in New Zealand (Polygraphia (NZ) Ltd, Auckland, 2008); “The Anglican Church and its decision-making structures” [2008] New Zealand Law Journal 121-124; “The Revenge of the Arcane Exclusion Clause: The Civil Registration of Marriage and the Royal Family” (2005) 5(2) Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal 179-204; “The nature of ministerial authority in the Anglican Church in New Zealand” (2005) 119(2) Churchman 105-136; “The Symbiosis of Secular and Spiritual Influences upon the Judiciary of the Anglican Church in New Zealand” (2004) 9(1) Deakin Law Review 145-182; “Dispensation, Privileges, and the Conferment of Graduate Status: With Special Reference to Lambeth Degrees” (2002-2003) 18(1) Journal of Law and Religion 249-274; “The Influence of the Common Law and the Decline of the Ecclesiastical Courts of the Church of England” (2001-2002) 3(1) Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion 1-45 ; “Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in the Church of the Province of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia” (2001) 6(2) Deakin Law Review 266-284; “Authority for the use of the Royal Arms in Churches” (2000) 5 (27) Ecclesiastical Law Journal 408-416.

Education/Credentials
Apart from my legal training I have an MTheol from the University of Auckland (on the validity of Anglican Orders), an MA from the Archbishop of Canterbury's Examination in Theology (a "Lambeth degree", on the basis of the legal authority of the Anglican church in New Zealand), and an LTh from the University of Wales Lampeter.

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