CofE: new hope for evangelicals?

As the Church of England gears up for another session of its General Synod (23-27 February), evangelicals are welcoming a robustly orthodox statement from many bishops.

In a document entitled A Theological Vision, seven bishops – on behalf of a much wider group – declare: ‘Marriage is more than a contingent social arrangement. As the joyful, lifelong union of male and female, the two forms of created humanity, marriage is a dynamic sign of the saving union between Christ and the Church through the Spirit, from which our salvation springs.

‘It thus represents the coming together of difference and is the proper place for sexual intimacy... Singleness is more than sexual self-denial. It is a positive declaration of the ultimate sufficiency of our eternal union with God in Christ, focussed, like Jesus, on leaving spiritual descendants.’