ORTHODOXY: THE REAL WATERSHED

By Peter C. Moore

President, Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry

Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code popularizes ancient heresies—most notably, the denial of Christ’s divinity—claiming it was “invented” at Nicaea in 325 A.D. Yet the early Church’s devotion to Christ as Kyrios predates Constantine by centuries.

Today’s challenge is subtler: subjectivism. In a pluralist culture, many prefer belief as personal preference—not objective truth. Thus, one can “affirm the creeds” while denying their exclusive claims.

Consider Bishop Michael Ingham of New Westminster, whose advocacy for same-sex blessings caused 10 parishes (one-third of his diocese) to seek oversight elsewhere. In a public debate on “Is Jesus Christ the only way to God?”, scholar Marcus Borg dismissed exclusivity as “triumphalist,” while N.T. Wright defended John 14:6—“I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

Yet even critics like Tom Harpur argue such claims are “non-historical”—despite parallel affirmations in Matthew and Luke.

Herein lies the crisis: Christology and sexual ethics are not separate issues—they are two expressions of the same question: Does revelation bind us, or do we reinterpret it to fit culture?

A 2004 sociological study of the PC(USA) found that the primary reason adults aged 35–55 left the denomination was simple: they no longer believed Jesus is the only Savior. The same dynamic is at work in ECUSA.

Orthodoxy is not mere intellectual assent—it is the framework that preserves the scandal of the Cross: that mercy comes not through human effort, but through the One who is Mercy incarnate.

Jesus told the parable of two men praying in the Temple: one righteous in his own eyes, the other crying, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Which went home justified? Only the one who knew he needed rescue.

If mercy is our deepest need—and it is—then Jesus is not a way. He is the way.

And no revision of canon, creed, or culture can change that.

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