[Magdalen] How to view Presiding Bishop Installation Service

[thedonboyd at austin.rr.com]

Roger, unless something has recently changed in US Methodist polity that I don't know about, bishops in that denomination remain bishops for life. There is no "first among equals" who is entitled to speak for bishops or the denomination as a whole, but all the bishops sitting as a "Council of Bishops" do at time opine upon social issues.  A quadrennial General Conference made up of all the bishops plus lay and presbyteral delegates elected from "annual conferences" (think dioceses) makes decisions on changes in doctrine or polity.   Upon retirement some bishops take up seminary teaching roles or other ministries but they are still called bishops. (I think [but cannot claim to be certain] that at least one strain of Lutherans in the US elect bishops (whose role is purely administrative) for a term certain, after which they return to pastoral/parish ministry and are no longer called bishops.)   As I believe I've said before, the United Methodist Church of today is far more conservative in theology and expression of social conscience than it was in my father's day.



---- Roger Stokes <roger.stokes65 at btinternet.com> wrote: 
> On 25/10/2015 17:27, Sibyl Smirl wrote:
> > Presbyterian or not, it's anti-Biblical Church, and Presbyterians are 
> > supposed to pay extreme attention to the Bible, last I noticed.  
> > Paul's letters define the importance and core function of Bishops to 
> > the whole church.  Priests are just "Elders" in the Bible, and 
> > Presbyterians don't do Priests, either.  They just do Presbyters...?
> >
> 
> Priest derives etymologically from presbyter.  This derives from the 
> Greek for "older man" so elder, priest and presbyter are all closely 
> related.  Some denominations presumably dislike the term "priest" 
> because of its overtones of the sacrificial priesthood and the RC 
> concept of the priest offering the sacrifice of the mass.  Becaise 
> "episkopos" simply means "overseer" it doesn't have similar negative 
> connotations.
> 
> Just for the record the United Methodist Church in the USA also has 
> bishops for those holding a particular role within that Church. However 
> when they leave that role they are no longer called "bishop" but revert 
> to being simply a presbyter.  Ordination as a presbyter in that 
> tradition is permanent, just as Anglicans recognize the permanence of 
> Orders as distinguished from the role one has at a particular time.
> 
> It is also wrong to refer to the impending consecration of Bishop 
> Michael Curry.  He was consecrated nishop back in June 2000 following 
> the confirmation of his election as Bishop of North Carolina.  Within 
> the Orthodox, RC and Anglican traditions there is no further progression 
> in the sense of Orders even if a bishop subsequently moves to a "higher" 
> post such as Archnishop or Presiding Bishop.  They are translated to 
> that new position.
> 
> Roger
> 
> Roger