Ed at Simple Village Organist has the scoop. Go read.
Hitch is on a book tour pushing his latest God Is Not Great, and he claims to have had a close encounter.
UPDATE: Clumber at Barkings of an Old Dog has a picture.
I take no responsibility for this picture. Clumber is a bad dog.
What I've always likes about Hitchins is that he writes well, and he toes no one else's line. He has an indepedence very rare for anyone in print these days, and I respect that.
ReplyDeleteObviously I hardly agree with him on anything. And if the good Archbishop looks more like a sheep than a shepherd, it should perhaps be kept in mind that his Master is called not only the Good Shepherd, but the Lamb of God. Whatever his faults, he will be leading no jihads, and if Hitchins finds his gentleness troubling whose problem is that?
Rick, you admire Hitchens more than I. He's smart, but IMHO, he does not use his intelligence well. He can write, but his reasoning often seems faulty to me.
ReplyDeleteAs to Abp. Williams, if you;re a leader, it's difficult for me to see how keeping your head down is good leadership - if he truly said that. He reminds me more of an ostrich, than a shepherd or a lamb. I have no problem with gentleness. I believe that it's possible to be a strong leader and yet be gentle, but I don't see the ABC demonstrating leadership - gentle or not.
Grandmère, There have been countless people who have told me why the ABC had to ditch his "true feelings" for the "greater good" of the Anglican Communion, to try to reach some consensus between the extremes. I just haven't seen that happening. I feel if he had just stood up for what he felt was right and true at the very beginning of this mess, and I don't mean with +Gene but with Jeffrey John, it would never have escalated to the current level. He would have established his authority and those who have perceived his weakness and wanted to capitalize on it would never have had the opportunity to do so. In short, he could have been a strong leader who set the moral direction our Communion would take.
ReplyDeleteBoocat, I agree that the ABC's actions toward his good friend, Jeffery John, were a grave disappointment and showed weakness on his part that certain folks have exploited. It seems to me that he has never quite regained his footing after that debacle - which must have come at great personal cost to him.
ReplyDeleteHitchens has been peculiar, to put it politely, in recent years, particularly with regard to his strong support for the Iraq Adventure. For many years he was, in my opinion, by far the best writer on the British Left - his earlier books of essays are beautifully, forcefully written. "Prepared For the Worst" (1988) is still among my favourite reads. As a bonus the dust-wrapper (US edition, at any rate) makes wonderful use of a detail of Caravaggio's "Sacrifice of Isaac".
ReplyDeleteWhen he's talking from his "old" position, as he still often does, he has quite a bit to offer, but since his student days he has been been - and the syndrome has increased with age - a prime specimen of what is termed, in a slightly old-fashioned expression, the "Parlour Pink" - one who strongly espouses left wing causes, but is most at home swanning around in intellectual and social "high society".
And he did, if he's telling the truth, get the ABC finally to state his current policy - "I'm rather trying to keep my head down" encapsulates what most of us had already concluded is the archbishop's strategy.
Lapin, Hitchens' pro-Iraq war writings were enough to turn me against him, and now his lame explanations of how he got it so wrong only make him look worse.
ReplyDeleteAs I said over at Ed's place, keeping his head down is exactly what the ABC appears to be doing. and it's not working out well for him.
"As I said over at Ed's place, keeping his head down is exactly what the ABC appears to be doing..."
ReplyDeleteSee, Mimi, this is why I asked you the other day on MPs thread about whether it would all be over on Sept. 30. You've got it figured out! ;-) Oh, and didn't I see somewhere that you got a ticket or two to go to the September ecumenical service in NOLA?
I don't believe that Hitchens heard him say anything like that. He's such a prick! And I heard him say not long ago that now he's an American....he certainly brags like one! Maybe that's why he came out for the Iraq war. He wanted to make sure that he got his citizenship papers?
Susan, I did get a ticket to the ecumenical service where the ABC will be the principal speaker. I thought I might be screened out because of writing about my bishop not answering my letter and email here on my blog. I suppose my ticket could still be revoked.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about having it figured out. I haven't yet figured out what my Windsor bishop plans to do. It is all dark.
Hitchens is not perhaps the most reliable messenger. Williams is certainly not the most effective leader. So it is a bit tricky to know how much to make of this. But I agree with Mimi, that whether or not Wms. said what is attributed to him, it's not good leadership and it pretty well nails his style. Probably the most newsworthy aspect of the quote is how the Abp is viewed in a highly secular arena.
ReplyDeleteEd, it makes for a good story, and I love a good story.
ReplyDeleteI do love the way Hitchens has himself addressing the ABC as "My Lord Archbishop". He may be American now, but he is careful to get the English titles right.
Mimi,
ReplyDeleteI'm hurt, hurt I tell you!
Clumber, my advice to you, you old dog, is to slink off with your tail between your legs to a corner of your choosing, lie down, put your chin between your front paws, and ponder what you have done.
ReplyDelete