Battle of the Bishops
There’s a lot of Bishoppy stuff in the news at present, due to the ongoing Lambeth Conference (for those of you who are wondering what all the fuss is about, it’s a big deal because it is an International gathering of the Big Cheeses of Anglicanism, and it only happens once every 10 years.)
The UK news on Anglicanism and Bishops lately has been dominated almost entirely with discussions of whether or not women might soon be allowed to be Bishops, and whether or not the Church will soon accept gays. The considered thought from within the Lambeth conference suggests that the Anglican Church is most unlikely to split; the issues that threaten us are thorny and problematic, but the glue that holds us together is, some believe, stronger than the issues that threaten to divide us.
The national press is pushing the more news-grabbing version, which is that a split in the Church is imminent. There’s a programme on BBC2 tonight that will track Peter Akinola: Battle of the Bishops. Whether we shall really see the Church split, only time will tell.
17 Responses to “Battle of the Bishops”
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Maggi has kept a blog since September 2003, writing about theology and faith, the arts and literature, and a little about life and random nonsense...
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I love the portrayal of the relationship between the Catholic priest and rabbi in Keeping the Faith (Ed Norton and Ben Stiller).
What about Linus Roache in ‘Priest’?
Bad, but only because its so close to reality, is the christian headteacher in ’saved’
Good, Susan Sarandon as Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking
who’s the priest in Mystic River?
I’m not sure this is really what you’re meaning, but there’s a good film about Oscar Romero…
Linus Roache and Tom Wilkinson do a fantastic job of being real people who happen to be priests in “Priest”.
I’m fond of the portrayal done by Rowan Atkinson as a vicar in “Keeping Mum”.
Is it just me, or do there seem to be a disproportionate amount of ‘bad’ vicars in Midsommer Murders?
And by bad I mean serial killers.
I love the vicar in Jam and Jerusalem. Sometimes, I feel I know just where he’s coming from!
The vicar in Jam and Jerusalem is my ‘worst vicar’, alongside Dick Emery…!
Favourite is the chaplain in the film ‘To End All Wars’, and the priest on the beach in the Pepsi ad. Oh to have pecs like that. Another favourite is probably Robert Duvalls as ‘The Apostle’, though he’s quite a mixed character.
I’m caught up with Alan in the Archers at the moment – he is awfully “nice”…. though objections to him marrying his Hindu girlfriend look set to turn him less nice…
Vicar Geraldine of the Vicar of Dibley and Fr. Brian Finn in Keeping the Faith and Mel Gibson in Signs, (a role I found pretty intriguing given his actual traditionalist Catholic faith) and Father Mulcahy on M*A*S*H*.
I hated Christopher Reeve in Monsignor (and why would anyone ever show Genvieve Bujold unclothed from the navel up, but that’s another question) and Father Ralph in the Thorn Birds (what a weenie!). Am I betraying my age?
The minister, probably Church of Scotland in ‘The Flying Scotsman’ its half way through before you realise he is, & his determination to help Graeme and support him is superb. one of his lines, goes something like ‘Its God who is concerned for your soul, I’m concerned for people.
For good there is Monsignor Quixote with Alec Guinness and Jack Lemmon in Mass Appeal.
The vicar in Jam and Jerusalem is my ‘worst vicar’, alongside Dick Emery…!
Don’t really want to set up a discussion here — just to note that the J&J vicar is a much more sympathetic, 3D character.
And of course most of the minister types mentioned here are much more worthy.
For good measure — the Jeremy Irons priest in The Mission.
Rev Alan in Meera Syal’s ‘Anita and Me’played by Mark Williams from The Fast show. Also both the guys in Priest.
The one that’s making me tear my hair out at the moment is the hippy dippy trippy Chaplain in ER. She started off OK and I was really excited about having a portrayal of chaplaincy in prime time drama but she’s now turned all loose and meaningless ’spirituality’ rather than anything concrete. It’s driving me mad – and I have a horrible feeling they wouldn’t have done that if the character was male. Grrrr.
Absolute favourite for me is in “Heaven’s Above” – Peter Sellers’ amazingly sympathetic portrayal of a vicar trying to “re-open negotiations with the kingdom of God” in a ‘middle England’ town.