Interview with Philip Giddings

This article appeared in the Conference edition of the Church of England Newspaper on 20 September 2003 and is reproduced here with their permission.

As a political scientist, Philip Giddings is well read in the world of warring factions and heated debate, but hardly could he have expected to be thrown into the heart of a row that threatened to split the Church.

For a reserved and mild-mannered servant of the Church, it was deeply discomforting for him to find himself in such a public battle with his bishop, the Rt Rev Richard Harries, over the Episcopal appointment of Canon Jeffrey John to Reading.

"It was and is painful," Giddings says, reflecting on the breakdown in relations between himself and the Bishop of Oxford, with whom he had worked so closely.

"It's been exhausting physically and mentally, particularly afterwards. During the storm itself the adrenalin and the prayer keeps you going, but after I felt so tired."

At General Synod there were fears that he would be the object of heckling when he stood to spoke, but while this did not materialise, he did receive hate-mail. Appearing in the papers and on the television and radio defending the Church's traditional teaching, he became the scourge of the liberals.

Yet, his admiration for Stanley Baldwin is telling. Not so much for the former Prime Minister's Arcadian vision of England that Giddings inhabits with his love for cricket and long walks, but for their shared attitude to debate.

"He engaged and respected his opponents," he says. "He treated Labour with respect and brought them into constitutional politics."

Despite being in outright opposition to Jeffrey John's appointment as a bishop, he is keen to stress that this is how he treated the embattled canon. During the height of the crisis they would talk to each other weekly, he says.

The Southwark cleric may have impressed him in the way that he handled himself through the ordeal, but Giddings is disappointed at the liberals' failure to enter into any reasoned dialogue.

Wild accusations have been thrown at evangelicals since their successful campaign to block the Church of England appointing its first openly gay bishop, and they have been painted as a highly-organised, bullying bunch of extremists. These taunts stem from "a football fan's mentality", he says, where they are struggling to find an explanation for their defeat in the argument.

"The liberals can't face up to the fact that they've lost the argument both in terms of the principles and the strength of people's opinion."

Contrary to reports in some of the press, the Oxford clergy opposed to the appointment were working on a shoestring and were far from highly organised, but Giddings believes that they are growing in strength.

As one of the most senior lay people in the Church of England, he is in a good position to view the strides that they are making. While evangelicals may still not be well represented at the top levels of ecclesiastical government, he believes that they have finally realised the importance of using the church's political process and predicts that it will be another generation before there is a better balance.

The main problem that they have to overcome is their attitude. Turning to a political example again, he says that they are too much like the opposition waiting to get into government, and so tend to be more reactive than pro-active.

The other danger for evangelicals, he notes, is the tone that they adopt in voicing their concerns. He has no qualms about the press coverage of the Reading crisis because he realises that they were painted as caricatures to simplify the complex debate, but Giddings feels that they face a problem in conveying their message in a world where political correctness rules.

"We are ordinary people who believe in the Bible and trust God. We need to draw a distinction in what we believe between assurance and arrogance. We are redeemed sinners if you declare something to be 'the truth', often conviction can be confused for arrogance."

Philip Giddings is a man of deep convictions. In taking such as courageous stand with his Oxford colleagues this summer he has articulated the beliefs of traditional Christians in the full glare of the media spotlight. Now the English crisis is over, and the cameras have gone for the time being, but he will continue to work as one of the most influential evangelicals in shaping the future of the Church of England, and in continuing to fight for truth.