The changing relationship between the church and its supporters is key to understanding changing religious and social attitudes in Victorian Britain. Using the records of the Anglican Church's home-missionary organizations, Flew charts the decline in Christian philanthropy and its connection to the growing secularization of society.

The nine criteria the Church of England uses to discern potential vocations to the priesthood are explored, and linked with personal qualities that are necessary for new, but also existing, leaders in a church and culture which has changed much over the last 50 years.

Arising out of consultations under the auspices of the Centre for the Study of the Christian Church, this book examines the Church of England's decision to ordain women to the priesthood and to make pastoral provision for those opposed. It attempts to discover and define the theological principles underlying both the ordination of women and the determination of the Church to maintain communion when these developments provoke fundamental disagreements. The book also considers the role of the so-called "flying Bishops", set in place by the Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod (1993). All the contributors support, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, the Act of Synod, but they are divided in their view of the ordination of women.

During the Reformation, the Book of Psalms became one of the most well-known books of the Bible. This was particularly true in Britain, where people of all ages, social classes and educational abilities memorized and sang poetic versifications of the psalms. Those written by Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins became the most popular, and the simple tunes developed and used by English and Scottish churches to accompany these texts were carried by soldiers, sailors and colonists throughout the English-speaking world. Among these tunes were a number that are still used today, including 'Old Hundredth', 'Martyrs', and 'French'. This book is the first to consider both English and Scottish metrical psalmody, comparing the two traditions in print and practice. It combines theological literary and musical analysis to reveal new and ground-breaking connections between the psalm texts and their tunes, which it traces in the English and Scottish psalters printed through 1640. Using this new analysis in combination with a more thorough evaluation of extant church records, Duguid contends that Britain developed and maintained two distinct psalm cultures, one in England and the other in Scotland.

John Henry Newman (1801-90) was brought up in the Church of England in the Evangelical tradition. An Oxford graduate and Fellow of Oriel College, he was appointed Vicar of St Mary's Oxford in 1828; from 1839 onwards he began to have doubts about the claims of the Anglican Church for Catholicity and in 1845 he was received into the Roman Catholic Church. He was made a Cardinal in 1879. His influence on both the restoration of Roman Catholicism in England and the advance of Catholic ideas in the Church of England was profound.
This key volume covers the final twenty-three months of Newman's Anglican years from November 1843 to 6 October 1845. It begins with Francis Rivington's refusal to publish Lives of the English Saints because of their Roman Catholic bias, and Newman's withdrawal from the editorship after the first two volumes of the series is published by another publishing house. The whole country is watching his every move. Rumours are rife and rampant. He is accused of being in the pay of the Pope. He is also accused of being a Jesuit or about to become one. But the attacks which really hit home are those accusing him of being a liar, a sceptic, and a traitor.
In February 1845, the University of Oxford's Convocation deprives William George Ward of his BA and MA Oxford degrees; and the proposal to censure Newman's Tract 90 is vetoed by two University Proctors. Newman sets to work in earnest on his Essay on Development, the publication of which will be the signal of his intentions to become a Roman Catholic. It goes to the printers in the third week of September. From this point on, events move swiftly. It is only a matter of days before Newman is received into the Churchof Rome by Father Dominic Barberi at Littlemore on 9 October 1845.

It may seem unexpected to assert that controversy surrounds the introduction of hymns in religious life in England. Though many scholars have worked to catalog and index hymns, few have investigated the evolution of hymns, and their proposed meaning to religious celebration. A historical as well as a critical project, The Matter and Manner of Praise undermines the compulsion to assume that hymn-making and religion were always considered to coexist effortlessly. Most histories of hymnody and evangelical movements in England have elided the depth of feeling and concern that surrounded the debate over hymns and their use during liturgy. McCart uncovers, reexamines, and comments upon this debate. He illuminates a partly unexplored topic in English church history, by tracing the controversial shift from metrical psalms to hymnody, and also takes into account legal issues and litigation that developed over the introduction of hymns into church life. An insightful study that should be fascinating reading for anyone interested in teasing apart the historical nature of religious ceremonies and hymns.

This focused concentration and celebration of Anglican life could not be more timely. Debates on sexuality and gender (including women bishops), whether or not the church has a Covenant, or can be a Communion, and how it is ultimately led, are issues that have dominated the ecclesial horizon for several decades. No book on Anglicanism can ever claim to have all the answers to all the questions. However, Martyn Percy's work does offer significant new insights and illumination - highlighting just how rich and reflexive the Anglican tradition can be in living and proclaiming the gospel of Christ. These essays provide some sharply-focused snapshots of contemporary Anglicanism, and cover many of the crucial issues affecting Anglicans today, such as the nature of mission and ministry, theological training and formation, and ecclesial identity and leadership. Church culture is often prey to contemporary fads and fashion. Percy's work calls Anglicanism to deeper discipleship; to attend to its roots, identity and shape; and to inhabit the world with a faith rooted in commitment, confidence and Christ.

W. M. Jacob examines the concept of 'profession' during the later Stuart and Georgian period, with special reference to the clergy of the Church of England. He describes their social backgrounds, how they were recruited, selected, and educated, and obtained jobs; how they were paid, and their lifestyles and family life, as well as examining the evidence for what they did as leaders of worship, pastors and teachers, how their parishioners responded to them, and how they were supervised. Jacob concludes that, contrary to popular views, the clerical profession was much better organized, educated, and supervised than the medical and legal professions during this period. During the 'age of reform' from the 1780s to the 1830s, all the professions were criticized: Jacob suggests that the modest regulation and professional training introduced in the other learned professions in the 1830s only slowly brought them to the standard already achieved by the clerical profession.

Seventy million assorted individuals comprise a church family that is renowned for its rich diversity. Christians of all shades of belief together make up the Anglican Communion, a fellowship of churches that extends around the world and includes the Episcopal Church in the United States. At its best, the spirit of openness that marks this fellowship is a sign of openness to the Holy Spirit. Few Anglicans would presume to have arrived spiritually, and the door is always open to all who are seeking God. Whether you are a cradle Episcopalian or are exploring the denomination, Always Open is an excellent introduction to Anglican beliefs and practices. Down to earth and good humored, Always Open explains the essentials of the Anglican approach to authority, the Bible, social and moral questions, dialogue with people of other faiths, and much, much more.

At an international level, Anglicanism has almost no mandating or juridical power. Stresses and threats of division over issues such as human sexuality have resulted in moves to enhance the Communion's central structures and instruments. However, it is becoming clear that there is little likelihood of substantial change in this direction succeeding, at least in the medium term. The challenge for Anglicanism is to make a 'polity of persuasion' work more effectively. This volume seeks to identify some trends and shifts of emphasis in Anglican ecclesiology to serve that end. Jeffrey W. Driver argues that there is more at stake in such an exercise than Anglican unity. In an ever-shrinking, pluralist, and conflicted world, where oneness is often forced by dominance, the people of God are called to model something different. The injunction of Jesus, 'it is not so among you', challenged his followers to use power and live in community in a way that contrasted with what occurred 'among the Gentiles' (Mark 10:41-45). This is why the sometimes tedious debates about authority and structure in the Anglican Communion could actually matter - because they might have something to say about being human in community, about sharing power and coexisting, about living interdependently on a tiny and increasingly stressed planet. The Anglican experiment in dispersed authority, for all its grief, could be a powerful gift.

The first two archbishops of Canterbury after the Norman Conquest, Lanfranc and Anselm, were towering figures in the medieval church and the sixth archbishop, the martyred Thomas Becket, is perhaps the most famous figure ever to hold the office. In between these giants of the ecclesiastical world came three less noteworthy men: Ralph d'Escures, William of Corbeil, and Theobald of Bec. Jean Truax's volume in the Ashgate Archbishops of Canterbury Series uniquely examines the pontificates of these three minor archbishops. Presenting their biographies, careers, thought and works as a unified period, Truax highlights crucial developments in the English church during the period of the pontificates of these three archbishops, from the death of Anselm to Becket. The resurgent power of the papacy, a changed relationship between church and state and the expansion of archiepiscopal scope and power ensured that in 1162 Becket faced a very different world from the one that Anselm had left in 1109. Selected correspondence, newly translated chronicle accounts and the text and a discussion of the Canterbury forgeries complete the volume.

The first two archbishops of Canterbury after the Norman Conquest, Lanfranc and Anselm, were towering figures in the medieval church and the sixth archbishop, the martyred Thomas Becket, is perhaps the most famous figure ever to hold the office. In between these giants of the ecclesiastical world came three less noteworthy men: Ralph d'Escures, William of Corbeil, and Theobald of Bec. Jean Truax's volume in the Ashgate Archbishops of Canterbury Series uniquely examines the pontificates of these three minor archbishops. Presenting their biographies, careers, thought and works as a unified period, Truax highlights crucial developments in the English church during the period of the pontificates of these three archbishops, from the death of Anselm to Becket. The resurgent power of the papacy, a changed relationship between church and state and the expansion of archiepiscopal scope and power ensured that in 1162 Becket faced a very different world from the one that Anselm had left in 1109. Selected correspondence, newly translated chronicle accounts and the text and a discussion of the Canterbury forgeries complete the volume.

The Oxford Movement transformed the nineteenth-century Church of England with a renewed conception of itself as a spiritual body. Initiated in the early 1830s by members of the University of Oxford, it was a response to threats to the established Church posed by British Dissenters, Irish Catholics, Whig and Radical politicians, and the predominant evangelical ethos - what Newman called 'the religion of the day'. The Tractarians believed they were not simply addressing difficulties within their national Church, but recovering universal principles of the Christian faith. To what extent were their beliefs and ideals communicated globally? Was missionary activity the product of the movement's distinctive principles? Did their understanding of the Church promote, or inhibit, closer relations among the churches of the global Anglican Communion? This volume addresses these questions and more with a series of case studies involving Europe and the English-speaking world during the first century of the Movement.

What Roger Ferlo did for the Bible in Opening the Bible, volume 2 of The New Church s Teaching Series, Jeffrey Lee now does for the prayer book in volume 7 of the series. Opening the Prayer Book introduces us to the history and liturgies of The Book of Common Prayer, and helps us understand why the prayer book is such an important aspect of Anglican self-understanding. Lee begins with the fundamental question, What is common prayer? He explores some of the ways in which our worship according to The Book of Common Prayer affects who we are as a church, and the way it shapes our lives of faith. In chapter 2 Lee turns to the development of patterns of liturgy from the time of Jesus to the Reformation, tracing changes in the primary liturgies of baptism, eucharist, and daily prayer. The American prayer book is the focus of chapter 3, from the earliest revisions in the new nation through the liturgical scholarship that led to the substantial theological and liturgical changes in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. Chapter 4 begins a survey of the pages of the prayer book itself. Lee examines in particular the liturgies of Holy Week and Easter, baptism and eucharist, and the daily office, with a view to understanding the way the parts of the services are rooted in the historical prayers of the church and at the same time reflect the living tradition of Christians today. This theme is further developed in chapter 5, which focuses on the prayer book and our common life. Here Lee discusses questions of how a common prayer book can be responsive to a growing variety of pastoral situations and diverse cultures in a fast-changing world. The final chapter addresses the future of the prayer book within the Anglican Communion, in light of demands for further revision and for greater freedom to adapt the prayer book to local needs and beliefs. As with each book in The New Church s Teaching Series, recommended resources for further reading and questions for discussion are included.

The book explores the twenty-first novel from the perspective that it is more concerned with theological debate than we might like to think. It reads five twentieth-century writers who have written the equivalent of sermons, from the perspective of a man who was denied access to the Anglican clergy because of his homosexuality, and finds a parallel tradition of exasperation at the church's obduracy against homosexuals and determination that the church must recognize its homosexual ministers.

Henry Francis Lyte moved to All-Saints Church in Brixham, Devon in 1824, where he became chairman of the schools committee, established the first Sunday school in the Torbay area and created a Sailors' Sunday School. The primary object of both schools was to provide education for children and seamen for whom other schooling was almost impossible. He organised an Annual Treat for the 800-1000 Sunday school children, which included a short religious service followed by tea and sports in the field. Shortly after Lyte's arrival in Brixham, he attracted such large crowds that the church had to be enlarged. Lyte was an expert flute player, spoke Latin, Greek, and French; enjoyed discussing literature; and was knowledgeable about wild flowers. At his Brixham home, Berry Head House, a former military hospital, Lyte created a magnificent library largely of theology and old English poetry, described in his obituary as one of the most extensive and valuable in the West of England. Nevertheless, Lyte was also able to identify with his parish of fishermen, visiting their homes and their ships in harbour, supplying every vessel with a Bible, and compiling songs and a manual of devotions for use at sea. A friend of Samuel Wilberforce, he also opposed slavery, organising an 1833 petition to Parliament requesting it be abolished in Great Britain. In poor health throughout his life, Lyte suffered various respiratory illnesses including asthma and bronchitis, and by the 1840s, he was spending much of his time in the warmer climates of France and Italy. Lyte spent the summer of 1847 at Berry Head, writing his best known hymn, Abide With Me. After one final sermon to his congregation he left again for Italy, and died at Nice on 20 November 1847. Other well-known hymns include Praise, my Soul, the King of Heaven and Pleasant are Thy Courts Above.

Sydney Anglicans, always ultra-conservative in terms of liturgy, theology and personal morality, have increasingly modelled themselves on sixteenth century English Puritanism. Over the past few decades, they have added radical congregationalism to the mix. They have altered church services, challenged church order, and relentlessly opposed all attempts to ordain women as priests, let alone bishops. Muriel Porter unpacks how Australia's largest and, until recently, richest diocese developed its ideological fervour, and explores the impact it is having both in Australia and the Anglican Communion.

Sydney Anglicans, always ultra-conservative in terms of liturgy, theology and personal morality, have increasingly modelled themselves on sixteenth century English Puritanism. Over the past few decades, they have added radical congregationalism to the mix. They have altered church services, challenged church order, and relentlessly opposed all attempts to ordain women as priests, let alone bishops. Muriel Porter unpacks how Australia's largest and, until recently, richest diocese developed its ideological fervour, and explores the impact it is having both in Australia and the Anglican Communion.

In Anglicanism Reimagined Andrew Shanks challenges all who are tempted to erect boundaries around their faith. Far more important than dogma and metaphysics, he argues, is the need to be open to all, and to engage with people who hold views at odds with our own. He shows how a commitment to this ideal can create fresh energy and new ways forward for the Church.

In this book a veteran country parson emerges from obscurity to focus upon the root causes and a possible long term solution of the most intractable problem facing today's Christianity, and especially his own Anglican Communion - its crippling and deep-seated disunity in the face of relentless secularist attack. John Fitch's "eirenicon," defined as "a proposal tending to make peace," while explicitly disclaiming the slick or superficial, offers a distinctive long-term approach to this issue with a touch of originality. His intriguing diagram on the front cover hints at the line taken - a no-holds-barred analysis of the uniquely Anglican concept of "churchmanship." The book, though deadly serious, is by no means devoid of humour; at the very least it deserves a patient reading from all who share the author's concerns. Born in June 1922, John Fitch read History and Theology at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. After preparing for ordination at Wells Theological College in Somerset, he served for forty years in various Suffolk parishes, retiring in 1987. He was appointed an Honorary Canon of St Edmundsbury in 1975 and was a co-founder of the Suffolk Historic Churches Trust. Now living in Essex, he has one son, two daughters, and seven grandchildren. His previous areas of publication have been antiquarian and genealogical.

The prestigious Prideaux Lectures were given in 1990 by Adrian Hastings, published here in volume form. With a distinctive and fresh approach, he surveys the vast range of interactions between the Christian church and the English state both historically and theologically. The central theme is the tension between the intrinsic dualism within the Christian approach to church and state and the pressure towards monism inherent in the Reformation establishment. While contrasting Roman Catholic and Free Church with Anglican past experience, the concluding chapter assesses recent developments in which the established church has effectively recovered a dualist stance. At a time when the appointment of the next Archbishop of Canterbury has heightened discussion about the role of the church in contemporary society, Professor Hastings makes a significant contribution to the subject. Church and State provides a frame of reference at once historical and theological, for a subject which is too frequently discussed merely descriptively or moralistically. It is in fact the frame of reference underlying the author's recent and much acclaimed works Robert Runcie and A History of English Christianity 1920-1985.

In Anglicans in Australia, bishop and theological commentator Tom Frame identifies the faultlines and tensions that exist within the contemporary Anglican Church, describes continuing debates over doctrine and their effect on the Australian Churchs relationship with the global Anglican Communion, and outlines problems, prospects and possibilities over the next twenty-five years. This thoroughly researched and carefully constructed book, written by a perceptive and judicious insider, will help Anglicans understand their own complex religious institution and illuminate it for outsiders as well.

The changing relationship between the church and its supporters is key to understanding changing religious and social attitudes in Victorian Britain. Using the records of the Anglican Church's home-missionary organizations, Flew charts the decline in Christian philanthropy and its connection to the growing secularization of society.

'Children are equal members of the Church by virtue of their baptism', writes Stephen Lake 'and therefore should have full access to the sacraments, the signs of God's love, and most especially to the bread and wine of the Eucharist.' This valuable resource book will assist all parishes in welcoming children to communion now that the Church of England has approved new Regulations. Let the Children Come to Communion: encourages the admission of baptized children to communion; summarizes in one place relevant practice, information and theology; shares the experience of those who have already taken this step; aims to help move the debate on, encouraging the Church into full participation. The author's fervent hope is to stir the Church into action on an important issue and to stimulate decision-making about introducing and developing this ministry with children. There are extended interviews with leading practitioners including: David Stancliffe, Stephen Venner, Diana Murrie, Margaret Withers and Mark Russell. Stephen Lake is Sub Dean and Canon Residentiary of St. Albans Cathedral. Stephen served his curacy at Sherborne Abbey before becoming Vicar of Branksome St. Aldhelm, an urban parish in Poole. He was also Rural Dean. After nine years in Branksome he moved to St. Albans in 2001. He is married to Carol and they have three children, all of whom receive Holy Communion. He is the author of the hugely successful Confirmation Prayer Book (SPCK), and also of Using Common Worship: Marriage (Church House Publishing). "Stephen Lake has written a fine, timely guide to the current discussion. I hope his vision will invite and persuade, and that we shall as a Church continue to discover the riches that await us as we listen more thoughtfully and generously to Christ's youngest friends" Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury