Dr Giddings and the Bishop of Oxford

What do we know about the man who has led the opposition to the appointment of the new Bishop of Reading?

Who is this Dr Giddings, who has emerged from obscurity into the limelight in the past few days? We have been told that he is a member of General Synod and a 'lay minister' (i.e. a Lay Reader) from Reading, and that he is an evangelical.

His background is, however, much more interesting and significant than this might imply....

As a former Chairman of the House of Laity of the Oxford Diocesan Synod, member of the Bishop's Council in Oxford and Vice-Chairman of the House of Laity of the General Synod, Giddings was very much an establishment figure - the Bishop of Oxford's personal friend and right-hand man. Indeed, he has always been widely regarded as a liberal evangelical, and thoroughly mistrusted by many traditionalists. ('Don't vote for Philip Giddings - he's a liberal', a friend was advised, when it came to the House of Laity elections. And so, having no better information at that stage, she didn't...)

In other words, Giddings (unlike the members of the conservative evangelical Reform, Church Society, etc.) is NOT among the ranks of the 'usual suspects' when it comes to opposing the liberal ecclesiastical establishment. He certainly cannot be portrayed as an 'extremist' or a 'fundamentalist'.

This surely makes his warnings the more powerful, and underlines the depth of the fissure now dividing the Church of England. For someone like Philip Giddings to oppose publicly his (former?) friend the Bishop of Oxford, is pretty shattering. And if the Bishop will not listen to Giddings, to whom will he listen?

(Thus the more one gets to know about this appointment the more it appears that the Bishop of Oxford knew what he was doing and somewhat anticipated that it would cause a tempest; likewise the Archbishop who had to approve also must have known that it was likely to generate great contreoversy. Thus one cannot escape the possibility that one of them or both of them were half intending at least to test the waters and perhaps change the doctrine of the C of E by a fait accompli. Both men are very intelligent and are fully aware of the emotions and convictions generated by gay partnerships and the like. If only Jeffrey John would state that he does not desire to go forward to consecration, this would save the C of E and Communion from more pain... but of course there are powerful human rights and liberal and gay lobbies pressing him to stand firm and go right ahead. This issue may well be as a poisoned spear in the side of the C of E.)

The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon M.A., D.Phil. (Oxon.)