Complementarianism, Heteronormativity and the Future of the Anglican Church

Abstract

Within the Anglican communion tensions surrounding different approaches to sexuality and orthodoxy are not new. Among evangelical Sydney Anglicans, maintaining heteronormativity appears necessary for Christian living, maintaining orthodoxy and doing evangelism. I suggest that orthodoxy, sexuality and evangelism are held together by complementarian discourse. I explore this by focusing on the Sydney Anglican Diocese, reading former Archbishop Davies’ 2019 presidential address as an example of complementarian discourse. My reading primarily follows Sara Ahmed’s work on use and wilfulness. Drawing on interview and survey data collected between July 2019 and December 2020, I listen to the responses of parishioners and staff to the presidential address and the diocesan call to complementarianism, evangelism and heteronormativity. I suggest that complementarian models of ministry, and a concomitant refusal to affirm non-heterosexual intimacies, may actually be a barrier to living and doing Christianity in contemporary Australia.