Spin Cycles

For a while now Jim Naughton has been doing yeoman’s duty as voice of the liberal wing as a kind of counter to T19 and Stand Firm. But he’s based out of one diocese and has a bunch of other things on his plate.

As he reports—things have changed. As of yesterday there is an Official Mouthpiece of TEC at EpiScope.

I find it a bit disconcerting. It seems to have a personality—but no identity. If you’re going to be personal, use “I”, and refer to in-jokes, tell us who you are. At least come up with an official pseudonym. There’s also no response mechanism. What’s up with that? (I, of course, am counting on their use of Google Alerts on their own name so this serves as my response. Hi there!)

Furthermore, it seems to feed in to the current polarization problem with its list of Anglican blogs “to the left” and “to the right”.

We’ll see how it develops…

10 thoughts on “Spin Cycles

  1. Chris T.

    According to Dylan’s post, it’s the Rev. Jan Nunley of ENS. Is it really an “official” mouthpiece of TEC?

    A bit sad to look at her blogroll though — where is you folks’ vaunted via media? In my experience most Episcopalians don’t identify so strongly with one pole or the other, but perhaps that is changing…

  2. Derek the Ænglican

    Good catch, Chris. Yes, I think there’s an active effort by the two poles to collapse the middle–or pretend it doesn’t exist.

    Anastasia, I *know* that one’s going to the top your bookmarks… :-D

  3. *Christopher

    What is confusing for me at least is that the blogs are divided out mostly over one particular matter.

    I don’t know where I fit in such categorizations any more, so how about she add a fourth category for the likes of me, “Eyes East”?

  4. bls

    You know what’s really astonishing about all this?

    We’re not even focussed anymore on “left” vs. “right” in the world. That’s what previous “political” arguments have been about – how Christianity can focus on its mission in the world, and what ways there are to approach that.

    We are now entirely consumed with (allegedly) left/right politics in the church.

    Navel-gazing at its most refined….

  5. Anastasia

    okay, truthfully, I’ve been looking at it pretty extensively because I’m interested and I have to tell you, I find the whole thing really, really creepy. Not just the left, center, right business but the whole thing. the tone is…what are they aiming for? tongue in cheek? Something like that. the only word I can find to describe it is the one I already used: creepy.

  6. bls

    I have to agree. Creepy.

    (And don’t they know that Al Kimel is a Catholic now, yet? Sheesh….)

  7. Derek the Ænglican

    Yup. I agree on all the above.

    I’m glad that as of this morning some folks like “Entangled States” and “Ayia Illuvitar” are in the Center column (which is where they ought to have been in the first place…) but I’m still disturbed that the Center section seems to be a gathering of more or less official news outlets.

    Uh…no…

  8. *Christopher

    Ummmm…I noticed MadPriest in the lineup; he’s CofE, not TEC…

    Why is it that there are no regular folk blogs in the Center section? Needless to say, I still just don’t find this helpful and the commentary is not shall we say “broad”, but has a certain bite to it; now I’m known, believe it or not, for a sarcastic wit behind that nice exterior as one student put it this morning, but I’m not sure that a blog claiming “oversight” should have such a tone. These days, I’m beginning to think that our bredth is what is most in danger and this doesn’t help.

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