A simpler, more flexible system for disciplining clergy over matters of doctrine is to be debated by the Church of England General Synod, it was announced today.
The first overhaul of clergy discipline procedures in relation to doctrine, ritual and ceremonial matters since 1963 will be debated at next month’s meeting of the General Synod in York.
The proposals are outlined in a working group report by the House of Bishops led by the Bishop of Chester, the Rt Rev Dr Peter Forster.
Under the proposals, complaints could only be brought by bodies or groups rather than individuals.
The Church of England has been rocked by a number of doctrinal controversies in the last century, notably that of the teaching of the former Bishop of Durham, the Rt Rev David Jenkins, in relation to the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection.
In 1947, the then Bishop of Birmingham escaped a trial for heresy in an ecclesiastical court after he appalled his fellow bishops when he published a book which repudiated any miraculous element in the origin of Christianity.
No case involving doctrine, ritual and ceremonial matters has been brought against a member of the clergy, other than in relation to a planning case, in the past 40 years.
Bishop Forster said ecclesiastical courts and tribunals should play a “limited role” in maintaining doctrinal standards in the Church of England.
“It is much better that controversies are addressed through theological discussion and debate, sympathetic inquiry and persuasion,” he wrote in the foreword to the report.
“Controversial formulations of Christian doctrine often embrace elements of truth and falsehood, which require a patient and careful process of assessment.”
The General Synod will also be asked to debate the possibility of introducing electronic voting into its proceedings.
A report on making the Synod’s business more effective invites the body to consider electronic voting as a means of saving time and labour costs.
The General Synod meets at the University of York from July 9 to July 13.