Testing the tent poles of Anglicanism is an article in the Anglican Journal that Magic Statistics had linked. William Hockin provides some excellent insight into what it means to be "inclusive" in the biblical sense.
As I read the Gospel texts, I am more and more struck with Jesus’ employment of a “radical inclusiveness.” That is, He targets for redemption those in the margins of society who were excluded from things religious. What strikes me even more is the rationale for that holy embrace. For instance, the Syrio-Phoenician woman (Mark 7:24) was celebrated neither because of her gender nor her ethnic origin but because of her “great faith.” Zaccheus, the publican (Luke 19:1) was likewise not celebrated because he was a publican but because he was a repentant human being. As well, the Samaritan, in the “good” parable by the same name (Luke 10:30) was not celebrated because he was a Samaritan but because he “had compassion on him who had fallen among thieves.”
In contrast to this “radical inclusiveness” of Jesus, pluralist or secular inclusiveness seems content with celebrating gender, racial and moral diversity alone, seeing “great faith” as faith in anything, repentance as an option for the pious few and compassion a virtue for those with enough time and money.
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