Moses Tay Leng Kong ( zh, t=鄭靈光; born 1934) is a retired Singaporean Anglican bishop. He was the 7th

Bishop of Singapore The Bishop of Singapore is the diocesan bishop for the Anglican Diocese of Singapore, founded in 1909. History of the See List of bishops *1881 George Hose, Bishop of Singapore, Labuan & Sarawak *1909 Charles Ferguson-Davie *1927 Basil Roberts ( ...

from 1982 to 2000 and the first Archbishop of the Province of Anglican Church in South East Asia from 1996 to 2000.

Education

Tay was educated in medicine at the

University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University. The university offers degree program ...

Medical career

Tay practiced medicine in Malaysia for eight years. In early 1982, Tay was posted as director of the

Tan Tock Seng Hospital Tan Tock Seng Hospital (abbreviation: TTSH) is a tertiary referral hospital in Singapore, located in Novena. Named after Tan Tock Seng, the hospital has 45 clinical and allied health departments, 16 specialist centres and is powered by more ...

, following the career path that the Ministry of Health had charted, but a few months later tendered his resignation to be appointed as the Bishop of Singapore.

Priesthood

Tay was Dean of the Diocese of Singapore from 1974 to 1982. In 1982, Tay was installed as the 7th

Philip Jenkins Philip Jenkins (born April 3, 1952) is a professor of history at Baylor University in the United States, and co-director for Baylor's Program on Historical Studies of Religion in the Institute for Studies of Religion. He is also the Edwin Erle S ...

noted that when Tay visited

Stanley Park Stanley Park is a public park in British Columbia, Canada, that makes up the northwestern half of Vancouver's Downtown Vancouver, Downtown peninsula, surrounded by waters of Burrard Inlet and English Bay, Vancouver, English Bay. The park bor ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

in the early 1990s, he was deeply troubled by the

totem poles Totem poles () are monumental carvings found in western Canada and the northwestern United States. They are a type of Northwest Coast art, consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually made from large t ...

he saw there. He concluded that "as artifacts of an alien religion, these were idols possessed by evil spirits, and they required handling by prayer and

exorcism Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be do ...

." Jenkins goes on to suggest that this behavior "horrified the local Anglican church," which "regarded exorcism as an absurd superstition." On 2 February 1996, Tay was installed as

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of Province of South East Asia. Tay was involved in founding the

Anglican Mission in the Americas The Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMiA) or The Anglican Mission (AM) is a self-governing church inheriting its doctrine and form of worship from the Episcopal Church in the United States (TEC) and Anglican Church of Canada with members and ch ...

in the late 1990s to give support to orthodox Anglicans in North America. He was involved in the consecration of Chuck Murphy and John H. Rodgers Jr. as their bishops in 2000. In 2000, Tay stepped down as Bishop of Singapore and handed over his office to John Chew. Tay was one of the most outspoken voices in the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is a Christian Full communion, communion consisting of the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, ...

in opposition to the theological liberalism of the Episcopal Church of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

.article on Tay's position
/ref>

Bibliography

Sources

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tay, Moses 1934 births University of Singapore alumni Anglican bishops of Singapore Singaporean Anglicans Singaporean people of Chinese descent Singaporean archbishops Anglican archbishops of South East Asia Living people Anglican archbishops in Asia 20th-century Anglican bishops in Asia 20th-century Anglican archbishops Anglican realignment people