That’s the phrase that Patrick O’Hannigan uses to describe Bishop Wright’s comments concerning the Rowan Williams affair. The essay appeared a couple of days ago- but it’s still worth reading (and isn’t it odd that essays even a few days old now are seen as in need of defense that they might still be read!)
Read the whole thing- but note with delight such snippets as this
As one who characterized what the Bush administration did in response to the attacks of 9/11 as “astonishingly immature,” and as a champion of what some Protestants call the “new perspective on Paul,” Wright has long been controversial. The man knows what the back of a podium looks like, and can usually dream up something sonorous and theological before his first cup of coffee. But what he had to say in defense of Rowan Williams was spectacularly ill-considered.
And this
Wright huffed, “We should be grateful that we have an Archbishop capable of such work, not demand that his every word be instantly comprehensible by the casual uninformed onlooker.”
And oh yes this
Wright’s tone was more irksome than his surprising failure to grasp the idea that Sharia law grows like kudzu wherever it gains a foothold, precisely because Islam does not make the Christian and Enlightenment distinction between church and state. Moreover, the under-remarked aspect of Wright’s “you people just don’t understand” defense is that it’s lifted from the same playbook that some Episcopalian and Anglican leaders have used to criticize conservative African bishops who think homosexual conduct is sinful even if a bishop in New Hampshire says differently.
And this excessively delightful dig
Had Rowan Williams been as technical as Tom Wright claims he was being, he would not have shared his thoughts so willingly with a non-specialist at the BBC. Had the people arguing with the archbishop been as immune to nuance as Wright seems to believe they are, Williams’ cautious advocacy of Sharia law would not have been parodied as quickly and skillfully as it was.
And the brilliant conclusion
In short, we must look to none other than legendary lisper Daffy Duck for a deft description of the defense offered by the Doctor of Divinity in Durham, because it’s “dethpicable.”
Bravo Patrick!
