Fixing the Unfixable

The many disparaging remarks by Anglicans/Episcopalians on both sides about Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams’ "sabbatical" are largely unjustified.  Williams has made his share of mistakes, but the chasm between the orthodox and revisionists in the Anglican Communion is probably unbridgeable.  It is reminiscent of a remark made about the Revolutions of 1848 that equally applied to the Russian Civil War:

"For a long time, only two real forces have existed in Europe–Revolution and Russia," the poet-diplomat Fëodr Tiutchev had written then.  "No treaties are possible between them.  The existence of one means the death of the other."  (R. Bruce Lincoln, Passage Through Armageddon)