The Recent Unpleasantness

In the wake of the 2003 General Convention approval of the consecration of Gene Robinson, an openly gay and partnered man, to be a bishop, the Convention of the Diocese of Pittsburgh took steps to secede from the Episcopal Church. When it became clear that by rewriting and reinterpreting the canons, the Diocese deemed itself entitled to the assets of the Diocese, the Rector and Vestry of Calvary Church, Pittsburgh, took the unprecedented, and as it turned out, successful action of challenging these actions in civil court, by suing the bishop and other officers of the Diocese. The Recent Unpleasantness tells the story of the circumstances in church and society that long predated Robinson's election, which set the stage for these developments, and discusses the ramifications of the lawsuit in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, the Episcopal Church, and throughout the Anglican Communion. It is an intriguing tale of the interface of bishops and archbishops, prelates and primates, synods and standing committees, and addresses issues surrounding the challenges and costs of rebuilding a church by schisms, rent asunder, by heresies distressed.With his usual flair for elegant and accurate historical narrative, and memorable phrases, Harold Lewis's The Recent Unpleasantness is not all that unpleasant to read. It is a dramatic description of an ecclesiastical struggle for civility and legality in the midst of theological diversity and institutional divisions. . . . This book is a veritable exploration of the maxim: Principia non homines. Principles matter, not personalities. --Canon Kortright Davis, Professor of Theology, Howard University, Washington DCMartin Luther King, Jr. spoke of a 'world house' wherein people live together in mutual respect as siblings or perish together in mutual disrespect as fools. South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu spoke of 'Ubuntu,' a perspective affirming the inter-connectedness of humanity. In The Recent Unpleasantness, Harold Lewis provides a brilliantly written case study of how these values in ministry helped salvage the integrity of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Pittsburgh during major crisis.--Ronald E. Peters, Theologian in Residence, Grace Memorial Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, PAHarold T. Lewis served as rector of Calvary Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh, PA from 1996-2012. He has taught in seminaries in the United States, the Congo, South Africa, Barbados and Mozambique. He is the author of Yet With a Steady Beat: The African American Struggle for Recognition in the Episcopal Church; Christian Social Witness; and A Church for the Future: South Africa as the Crucible for Anglicanism in a New Century He holds a PhD in Theology from the University of Birmingham (UK).