but through the lens of history we see him differently, even to the point of revering him.

Good point Craig, and I think that none of us is in a position to be the “final” judge on Rowan’s success or lack thereof in keeping the Communion together as some sort of mutually accountable Christian grouping.  I think that we each have our hypotheses as to how history will judge him, but so be it.

What we can all do together, is pray for Rowan to have the wisdom, strength and courage to resuscitate the Covenant back into life.

By the way, there was some interesting discussion over on TitusOneNine between Stephen Noll and Christopher Seitz concerning the events in Jamaica.

I agree, James.  But to be clear, my hypothesis is NOT that Rowan will be judged positively, but that he will be judged according to how well he is able to keep the Communion together after the incident in 2003 and whether or not there actually is a well-established global communion no longer dominated by white descendants of former colonial masters but rather by the vision first articulated by MRI in 1963, perhaps bonded together thru a Covenant.  If that happens, he’s a hero.  If we disintegrate, he’s like Herbert Hoover or our other archetypes of failure.

James and Craig,

Because I am the king of the obvious, I must point out that it is possible that:

1) Rowan is doing the right thing
2) The AC will still fly apart

This all could be Rowan’s personal Kobayashi Maru (let the Star Trek fans understand).

I’ve posted the ACI response to this ACC resolution here.

Charlie, I concede your point, but I think my scenario the more likely one.

James:  just read the Seitz-Noll thread to which you referred me.  Looks like Chris Seitz and I watched the same thing and reacted the same way.  I watched Rowan speak and was celebrating on the drive home.  Then when I got home, I read about the shocking turnaround and tuned in for that embarrassing press conference.  That seems to me like Chris Seitz at his best (ignoring of course his outstanding scholarly work).

Fr. Humphrey,

It looks like much of the opposition to the Covenant stems from the idea that it would stop or severely hinder the full inclusion of glbt folk in the life of the church.

I want to stop the theological slide TEC seems to be on, and a Covenant provided some hope. Progressives (seem to) see this as a veiled attempt to quash the above mentioned full inclusion.

David and Shawn have said this criticism does not apply to them, but in the broader discussion in TEC, there appears to be a strong (if not casual than at least sympathetic) relationship between core theology and how one comes down on the issue of human sexuality.

Craig,
George Conger offers his thoughts in an excellent interview by Anglican TV. If I can sum what he said, most of the problems during the voting were communication problems.  “Rowan Williams is not a good communicator”. I believe Conger is correct When Rowan is in a non academic setting.  He believes the ABC was simply misunderstood. Additionally, many of those attending did not have English as a first language and did not know what such words as “litigation” meant.
http://www.anglicantv.org/. (This is the link to the interview)

Thanks, Dale.  I understand the complaint that Rowan is not a good communicator.  But I am glad to hear that George is not suggesting that Rowan was trying to subvert the passage, because I watched Rowan on AnglicanTV and I saw the opposite (but I was in my car when the great snafu happened). 

I am intrigued by the possibility of the provinces ignoring the ACC and approving the Covenant on their own.  If all the Global South did that along with some Westerners, it might put great pressure on the JSC when it finally meets.  Interesting to contemplate.  I still think we will get our Covenant without adulteration, but I also think the Saints will win the Super Bowl sometime in my lifetime.

Saint win Super Bowl right after the Cubs win the World Series!

Craig,
I was born and raised in Michigan. If you look up the phrase long suffering in the dictionary the explanation is “Lions Fan” They have never won a Superbowl and have not won a championship since about 1959. Barry Sanders retired early to avoid playing with them one more year. The best quarterback they ever had was Bobby Lane and he had his problems with alcohol. Now you know the depth of my faith.