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Books > Christianity > Protestantism & Protestant Churches > Anglican & Episcopalian Churches
William Perkins and the Making of Protestant England presents a new
interpretation of the theology and historical significance of
William Perkins (1558-1602), a prominent Cambridge scholar and
teacher during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Though often
described as a Puritan, Perkins was in fact a prominent and
effective apologist for the established church whose contributions
to English religious thought had an immense influence on an English
Protestant culture that endured well into modern times. The English
Reformation is shown to be a part of the European-wide Reformation,
and Perkins himself a leading Reformed theologian. In A Reformed
Catholike (1597), Perkins distinguished the theology upheld in the
English Church from that of the Roman Catholic Church, while at the
same time showing the considerable extent to which the two churches
shared common concerns. His books dealt extensively with the nature
of salvation and the need to follow a moral way of life. Perkins
wrote pioneering works on conscience and 'practical divinity'. In
The Arte of Prophecying (1607), he provided preachers with a
guidebook to the study of the Bible and their oral presentation of
its teachings. He dealt boldly and in down-to-earth terms with the
need to achieve social justice in an era of severe economic
distress. Perkins is shown to have been instrumental to the making
of a Protestant England, and to have contributed significantly to
the development of the religious culture not only of Britain but
also of a broad range of countries on the Continent.
This book discusses the different understandings of 'catholicity'
that emerged in the interactions between the Church of England and
other churches - particularly the Roman Catholic Church and later
the Old Catholic Churches - from the early 1830s to the early
1880s. It presents a pre-history of ecumenism, which isolates some
of the most distinctive features of the ecclesiological positions
of the different churches as these developed through the turmoil of
the nineteenth century. It explores the historical imagination of a
range of churchmen and theologians, who sought to reconstruct their
churches through an encounter with the past whose relevance for the
construction of identity in the present went unquestioned. The past
was no foreign country but instead provided solutions to the
perceived dangers facing the church of the present. Key
protagonists are John Henry Newman and Edward Bouverie Pusey, the
leaders of the Oxford Movement, as well as a number of other less
well-known figures who made their distinctive mark on the relations
between the churches. The key event in reshaping the terms of the
debates between the churches was the Vatican Council of 1870, which
put an end to serious dialogue for a very long period, but which
opened up new avenues for the Church of England and other non-Roman
European churches including the Orthodox. In the end, however,
ecumenism was halted in the 1880s by an increasingly complex
European situation and an energetic expansion of the British
Empire, which saw the rise of Pan-Anglicanism at the expense of
ecumenism.
Bob Tennant presents a history of the missionary work, cultures,
and rhetoric of the Church of England in 1760-1870, when it was the
predominant organizer of Protestant overseas missions. Through
close attention to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
(SPCK, founded 1699), the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
in Foreign Parts (SPG, 1701), and the Church Missionary Society
(CMS, 1799) Tennant offers a systematic exploration of the complex
relationship between the Societies' policies, decision-making
systems, and administration, as recorded in their unpublished
minute books, and the rhetorical and theological activity of their
sermon literature. Thus their 'corporate holiness' is shown to be a
synthesis of theology, ministry, rhetoric, administration, and
methods of building public support. In the process, Tennant also
offers analyses of controversies within the Church of England about
questions such as the relationship of Bible to liturgy, the nature
and techniques of mass education, charitable behaviour, and the
processes of decision-making. Supported by statistical evidence, he
offers a revisionist account of the Church's relationship to the
American Revolution, the Romantic movement, and the Indian
'Mutiny'. Besides offering a critical history of his subject,
Tennant also suggests a methodology for approaching a general
thesis of Christian missionary societies on their own terms,
theoretically separable from and avoiding the distortions and
imbalances which have been imposed by the secularist imperial
historiography to which they have so often been subordinated.
The Oxford History of Anglicanism is a major new and unprecedented
international study of the identity and historical influence of one
of the world's largest versions of Christianity. This global study
of Anglicanism from the sixteenth century looks at how was Anglican
identity constructed and contested at various periods since the
sixteenth century; and what was its historical influence during the
past six centuries. It explores not just the ecclesiastical and
theological aspects of global Anglicanism, but also the political,
social, economic, and cultural influences of this form of
Christianity that has been historically significant in western
culture, and a burgeoning force in non-western societies today. The
chapters are written by international exports in their various
historical fields which includes the most recent research in their
areas, as well as original research. The series forms an invaluable
reference for both scholars and interested non-specialists. Volume
three of The Oxford History of Anglicanism explores the nineteenth
century when Anglicanism developed into a world-wide Christian
communion, largely, but not solely, due to the expansion of the
British Empire. By the end of this period an Anglican Communion had
come into existence as a diverse conglomerate of often competing
Anglican identities with their often unresolved tensions and
contradictions, but also with some measure of genuine unity. The
volume examines the ways the various Anglican identities of the
nineteenth century are both metropolitan and colonial constructs,
and how they influenced the wider societies in which they formed
Anglican Churches.
How far can religion play a part in the public sphere, or should it
be only a private matter? Roger Trigg examines this question in the
context of today's pluralist societies, where many different
beliefs clamour for attention. Should we celebrate diversity, or
are matters of truth at stake? In particular, can we maintain our
love of freedom, while cutting it off from religious roots? In
societies in which there are many conflicting beliefs, the place of
religion is a growing political issue. Should all religions be
equally welcomed in the public square? Favouring one religion over
others may appear to be a failure to treat all citizens equally,
yet for citizens in many countries their Christian heritage is
woven into their way of life. Whether it is the issue of same-sex
marriages, the right of French schoolgirls to wear Islamic
headscarves, or just the public display of Christmas trees, all
societies have to work out a consistent approach to the public
influence of religion.
The Oxford History of Anglicanism provides a global study of
Anglicanism from the sixteenth century to the twenty-first. The
five volumes in the series look at how Anglican identity was
constructed and contested since the English Reformation of the
sixteenth century, and examine its historical influence during the
past six centuries. They consider not only the ecclesiastical and
theological aspects of global Anglicanism, but also the political,
social, economic, and cultural influences of this form of
Christianity that has been historically significant in Western
culture, and a burgeoning force in non-Western societies since the
nineteenth century. Written by international experts in their
various historical fields, each volumes analyses the varieties of
Anglicanism that have emerged. The series also highlights the
formal, political, institutional, and ecclesiastical forces that
have shaped a global Anglicanism; and the interaction of
Anglicanism with informal and external influences which have both
moulded Anglicanism and been fashioned by it. Volume five of The
Oxford History of Anglicanism considers the global experience of
the Church of England in mission and in the transitions of its
mission Churches towards autonomy in the twentieth century. The
Church developed institutionally, yet more than the institutional
history of the Church of England and its spheres of influence is
probed. The contributors focus on what it has meant to be Anglican
in diverse contexts. What spread from England was not simply a
religious institution but the religious tradition it intended to
implant. The volume addresses questions of the conduct of mission,
its intended and unintended consequences. It offers important
insights on what decolonization meant for Anglicans as the mission
Church in various global locations became self-reliant. This study
breaks new ground in describing the emergence of an Anglicanism
shaped more contextually than externally. It illustrates how
Anglicanism became enculturated across a broad swath of cultural
contexts. The influence of context, and the challenge of adaption
to it, framed Anglicanism's twentieth-century experience.
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 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. Volume VIII
covers a turbulent period in Newman's life with the publication of
Tract 90. His attempt to show the compatibility of the 39 Articles
with Catholic doctrine caused a storm both in the University of
Oxford and in the Church. He and others were horrified by the
establishment of a joint Anglo-Prussian Bishopric in Jerusalem,
considering it an attempt to give Apostolical succession to an
heretical church. In 1842 he moved away from the hubbub of Oxford
life to nearby Littlemore.
This book, which is global in scope and will be of interest throughout the world, makes available for the first time a comparative study of the Constitutions, Canons, and other forms of law of the Churches in the worldwide Anglican Communion. Doe's analysis draws out the similarities and differences between them and proposes that global principles of Anglican canon law apply to all Churches in the Communion. This thorough and practical description of a hitherto under-explored subject is placed squarely within its jurisprudential and theological context and will be welcomed by both practitioners and scholars.
The Anglican conflict over homosexuality has drawn worldwide
interest and divided the church. However, conflict within
Christianity is not new. This book traces the steps by which the
crisis emerged, and reveals the deeper debates within the church
which underlie both the current controversy and much earlier
splits. William L. Sachs contends that the present debate did not
begin with opposition to homosexuality or in advocacy of it. He
argues that, like past tensions, it originates in the diverging
local contexts in which the faith is practised, and their differing
interpretations of authority and communion. In the aftermath of
colonialism, activists and reformers have taken on prominent roles
for and against the status quo. The crisis reveals a Church in
search of a new, global consensus about the appropriate forms of
belief and mission.
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.
Amidst a world of seemingly endless movement and change many of us
feel a longing to be rooted. It is this instinct that has led many
to value the parish system, and to question the place of new
churches, be they fresh expressions or church plants. This book is
about the instinct to form churches that are of and for a
particular place, and what this might mean in a world where place
is contested, interconnected, and ever-changing. Above all it is an
attempt to move the conversation beyond the binary choices of
parish or non, new or inherited. It offers a powerful and
persuasive vision for a Church that is national only by being
local; a vision that can only be realised as churches continually
become present to their places.
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Purity
(Paperback)
Addie Whittaker, Lacey Whittaker; Cover design or artwork by Kristina Conatser
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R314
R291
Discovery Miles 2 910
Save R23 (7%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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Bishop John Shelby Spong, author of Jesus for the Non-Religious,
Why Christianity Must Change or Die, Sins of Scripture, and many
other books, is known for his controversial ideas and fighting for
minority rights. In Eternal Life: A New Vision, a remarkable
spiritual journey about his lifelong struggle with the questions of
God and death, he reveals how he came to a new conviction about
eternal life. God, says spong, is ultimately one, and each of us is
part of that oneness. We do not live on after death as children who
have been rewarded with heaven or punished with hell but as part of
the life and being of God, sharing in God's eternity, which is
beyond the barriers of time and space. spong argues that the
discovery of the eternal can be found within each of us if we go
deeply into ourselves, transcend our limits and become fully human.
By seeking God within, by living each day to its fullest, we will
come to understand how we live eternally.
Always compelling and controversial, Spong, the leading
Christian liberal and pioneer for human rights, wrestles with the
question that all of us will ultimately face. In his final book,
Spong takes us beyond religion and even beyond Christianity until
he arrives at the affirmation that the fully realized human life
empties into and participates in the eternity of God. The pathway
into God turns out to be both a pathway into ourselves and a
doorway into eternal life. To Job's question "If a man (or a woman)
dies, will he (or she) live again?" he gives his answer as a
ringing yes
This is a study of the 66 bishops of James I. Kenneth Fincham
surveys the range of their activities and functions, including
their part in central politics, their role in local society, their
work as diocesan governors enforcing moral and spiritual discipline
and their supervision of the parish clergy. Dr Fincham argues that
the accession of James I marked the restoration of episcopal
fortunes at court and in the localities, seen most clearly in the
revival of the court prelate. The Jacobean episcopate as a group
were active pastors, working under the watchful eye of an informed
supreme governor. During these years, the image of the bishop as
preaching pastor won widespread acceptance and evangelical
churchmanship flourished, to be challenged in the second half of
the reign by Arminian prelates. Dr Fincham's analysis of the early
17th-century episcopate, grounded in contemporary sources, reveals
much about the church of James I, the doctrinal divisions of the
period and the origins of Laudian government in the 1630s. "Prelate
as Pastor" offers a new perspective on the controversies of early
Stuart religious history.
The plays of Shakespeare, the Authorized version of the Bible and
the Book of Common Prayer, all produced in the late 16th/early 17th
centuries, are the three dounding texts of the English nation and
its language. Not only do they share a beauty and a power of style
which have never been equalled: their influence on Anglophone
culture remains profound. Originally produced by Archbishop Cranmer
and his allies to bolster the Tudor secession from Catholicism, the
Pray Book rapidly took on a life of its own. Until the present
century, most Anglicans knew long stretches of the text by heart.
It invaded the style of 17th-century p oets and even 19th century
novelists like George Elliot. It still colours our language and our
way of feeling today, though we hardly know it. In recent years the
Prayer Book has been under attack by modernizers and radicals
within the church itself. On the 450th anniversary of its first
appearance, the time has come to proclaim the value of this work
once more and to recognize it for what it is: a liturgical and
literary masterpiece.
The Anglican conflict over homosexuality has drawn worldwide
interest and divided the church. However, conflict within
Christianity is not new. This book traces the steps by which the
crisis emerged, and reveals the deeper debates within the church
which underlie both the current controversy and much earlier
splits. William L. Sachs contends that the present debate did not
begin with opposition to homosexuality or in advocacy of it. He
argues that, like past tensions, it originates in the diverging
local contexts in which the faith is practiced, and their differing
interpretations of authority and communion. In the aftermath of
colonialism, activists and reformers have taken on prominent roles
for and against the status quo. The crisis reveals a Church in
search of a new, global consensus about the appropriate forms of
belief and mission.
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Impressions of the Heart
(Paperback)
Lacey Whittaker, Justin Whittaker; Cover design or artwork by Kristina Conatser
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R308
R284
Discovery Miles 2 840
Save R24 (8%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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