Akinola calls Eames out
Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria has offered a blunt response to Irish Archbishop Robin Eames’ criticisms during a lecture tour in the United States.
Akinola’s sharpest point came in response to Eames’ assertion that American conservatives’ money is prompting the theological remarks of conservative leaders from the Global South.
“It is reported that you, without citing specifics, are ‘quite certain’ that some of us have been bought,” Akinola wrote to Eames in an open letter dated Oct. 16. “If you have any evidence of such financial inducements I challenge you, in the name of God, to reveal them or make a public apology to your brother Primates in the Global South for this damaging and irresponsible smear. I have always made it clear that there is no price-tag on my head — I am not a slave to anyone — I have been set free by the blood of the One who died for us all.”
Eames had also objected to the Church of Nigeria’s recent changes to its constitution.
The Church of Nigeria’s General Synod revised its constitution in September to base its Anglican identity on doctrine rather than on its relation with the Archbishop of Canterbury.
During a post-lecture discussion at Virginia Theological Seminary, Eames said this regarding the Nigerian church’s decision:
“My plea to my brother Peter, the Primate of Nigeria, would be, ‘Pause, Peter, pause, because we are all in this together, because a preemptive strike like this would have the consequences of making the tensions greater, and therefore I ask that you would pause and take on the reservations that the rest of us have.’”
Akinola responded:
“Let me say again that the recent actions of the Church of Nigeria were not the ‘preemptive strike’ of a single voice but rather the deliberate, prayerful and unanimous action of the more than 800 members of our General Synod. It was, and is, our intention to make clear our commitment to the faith once delivered to the Saints as expressed in historic Anglicanism and its traditional formularies at a time when these understandings are being challenged and distorted.”
Posted at 7:45 am 10.19.2005 | Permalink