Disbelieves In Virgin Birth

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31098, 29 June 1966, Page 7

Disbelieves In Virgin Birth

CN.Z. Press Association) DUNEDIN, June 28. A canon of the Church of England who admits to having a “love-hate relationship** with his church disbelieves emphatically in the Virgin Birth. He also subscribes to the view of the Resurection put forward recently by Professor L. G. Geering, of Dunedin. He is Canon H. Montefiore, vicar of the Cambridge University Church and a theologian. Canon Montefiore, who is in Dunedin for a series of lectures at the University of Otago, said he did not believe in the physical fact of the Virgin Birth. “I do believe, though, in what it stands for. It means Jesus was giving life a fresh start by being born anew.” He said much of the Bible, especially where it referred to the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection, was open to differing interpretations.

He had not read Professor Geering’s article on the Resurrection but from what he had heard be considered that Professor Geering had probably "warmed the hearts of many men.”

“I daresay he also offended many clergymen greatly, but he is only saying what many others have said before him.” He said the criticism of Professor Geering was a result of the time lag between academic theology and the popular beliefs of the people. People were frightened of criticism of their beliefs. They

feared their faith would be undermined by attempts to interpret it in the light of modern knowledge. Some* people—including those, perhaps, who had wanted Professor Geering dismissed from the position of principal of Knox Collegereacted violently and with an almost neurotic fear to state-

ments such as Professor Geering’s, Canon Montefiore said. There was a need for radical change in this increasingly educated society. People were going to insist on a more critical case for Christianity, which had to be “extricated from its popular image of fairy taie stuff.” Much of the Bible needed

re-translating, Canon Montefire said. Parts of it were expressed in thought forms which were no longer used. His “love-hate” statement represented his feelings—"but not all of them” —toward the Anglican church. He once said: “I loathe the Church of England because she is old fashioned in all her 'ways, out of date in her liturgy and ostrich-like in her dealngs with the 20th-century world.” Today he added: “I said that, yes, but believe me I would not want to belong to any other church. That is only part of my feelings. I am truly very fond of the church but I am not keen on the stuffiness that prevails in many parts of it.”