The period 1928-1942 saw some of the greatest political and social upheavals in modern British history. Lang, as Archbishop of Canterbury, led the Church of England through this tumultuous period and was a pivotal influence in political and religious decision-making. In this book, Robert Beaken provides a new perspective on Lang, including his considerable relationship with the royal family. Beaken also shows how Lang proved to be a sensitive leader during wartime, opposing any demonisation of the enemy and showing compassion to conscientious objectors. Despite his central role at a time of flux, there has been little written on Lang since the original biography published in 1949, and history has not been kind to this intellectually gifted but emotionally complex man. Although Lang has often been seen as a fairly unsuccessful archbishop who was resistant to change, Beaken shows that he was, in fact, an effective leader of the Anglican community at a time when the Church of England was internally divided over issues surrounding the Revised Prayer Book and its position in an ever-changing world. Lang's reputation is therefore ripe for reassessment. Drawing on previously unseen material and first-hand interviews, Beaken tells the story of a fascinating and complex man, who was, he argues, Britain's first 'modern' Archbishop of Canterbury.

This is an introduction to the thought of one of the most fascinating theologians and at the same time most controversial church leaders of our time. In contemporary theology, the work of Rowan Williams is virtually without parallel for its extraordinary diversity and complexity. His writings span the genres of poetry, history, literary criticism, spirituality, theology, ethics, and philosophy - yet this diverse body of work is apparently not unified by any overarching system or agenda. Indeed, one of the hallmarks of Williams' thought is a vigorous refusal of completeness and systematic closure. Nevertheless, this book will argue that the complex body of Williams' work is held together by a specific theological construal both of Christian language and of the church's founding event.

This study examines the significance of the influential High Church 'Hackney Phalanx' at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and opens up a little-explored area of Anglican history. Drawing extensively upon original correspondence, Elizabeth Varley reconstructs the work of the Hackney Phalanx and their defence of traditional Anglican ascendancy against the forces of political and religious reform during the final crisis of the English confessional state. The study focuses upon William Van Mildert, Bishop of Durham from 1826-36, and shows that, while Van Mildert's influence as 'Prince Bishop' bore little resemblance to his medieval forebears, he made effective use of it to cause considerable irritation to the Whig establishment of the day, local and national. Varley brings skilfully to life many of the tensions of that time - political and ecclesiastical - which culminated in the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 and the passing of the Parliamentary Reform Bill in 1832.

Rodes examines the legal materials (cases, statutes, canons, and measures) used in the English experience of updating the medieval synthesis of church and state.

A Newsman Remembered is not just the story of the life of Ralph Burdette Jordan (RBJ - or "Jock") - who was a remarkable newspaperman/motion picture publicist/war correspondent. It is also a glimpse into an era of American social and political history that is now, unfortunately, largely forgotten if not discarded. The compelling personalities with whom he engaged- Aimee Semple McPherson, William Randolph Hearst, Louis B. Mayer, General Douglas MacArthur - are but fading memories which this book briefly restores. The first half of the 20th century began as an era of optimism that encompassed a belief that working hard - along with seizing the "main chance" - would produce social, professional and financial success. Ralph Jordan certainly exuded that optimism in everything that he encountered in his short life. Along with his contemporaries, moving into the great (largely ill-defined) middle class was his overarching goal. Within this goal, family life was an important ingredient for him - marriage in his day was still a partnership with clearly defined marital roles and expectations. Ralph and Mary's marriage reflected that domestic configuration. Religious faith - if not always observed to the letter - also formed an important part of their family life. It could not be otherwise for them and those other largely third-generation descendants of Mormon pioneers (and their non-Mormon contemporaries) with whom they associated. These so-called Mormon second- and third-generation diasporans were willing - even eager - to leave behind them the remoteness of what was then described as "Zion," to seek more promising futures elsewhere, retaining as best they could their unique heritage. Thus, Ralph Jordan's story is indeed a "life and times" story worth telling

Phillips Brooks, author of the carol O Little Town of Bethlehem, was the rector of the Trinity Episcopal Church in Boston for 22 years and the Bishop of Massachusetts for 15 months until his death in 1893. This volume in the Great American Orators series focuses on Brooks' oratorical style and the public's response to his rhetoric. Chesebrough provides a biographical sketch of Brooks' life emphasizing the development and use of his oratorical skills and placing him within the secular and ecclesiastical contexts of his times. Attention is given to Brooks' development as a public speaker and to his manner of sermon preparation and delivery. Three of Brooks' sermons are printed in their entirety: Abraham Lincoln, The Cradle of the Lord, and Help from the Hills, preceded by introductory remarks and a brief analysis of the sermon. This examination of Brooks' rhetoric will appeal to scholars of rhetoric and of American theology and American religious history, especially Episcopal history.

Anglican theology has been a hotbed of debate about the issue of authority since the Reformation. What do we really appeal to when attempting to decide matters of doctrine, worship, ministry or ethics? The debate is very much alive today, between Evangelical, Liberal and Catholic Anglicans around the world. This proposed book focuses on the understanding of authority in Anglican theology. It looks at the way that Anglican theologians, in the past and today, have developed their theories of authority in relation to burning issues. Avis critiques them in a continuous dialogue or running commentary and set them in an ecumenical context, comparing Anglican positions with Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant ones. In each area - Bible, tradition, reason, experience -he sets out a new understanding of authority in a constructive and persuasive way, moving to a series of overall conclusions and recommendations. The sharp critiques of various positions will help to make it the subject of discussion and debate.

Night time signifies many things. Apart from the rest and refreshment that sleep brings, the night is a time for gazing at the stars, dreaming and loving. For some it means keeping vigil as they tend the very young, or the sick. For others, it means working so that others may rest peacefully. For most people, there are occasions when the night brings no relief: when we are worried or afraid, trouble never looms larger than in the early sleepless hours. Yet such times can lead to a richer experience of intercession, meditation and contemplation. These experiences of the night are universal and have inspired poetry, prayers, lullabies, songs and stories down the ages. This wide-ranging collection is the perfect bedside companion and will help soothe us to sleep, dispel night time fears and attune us to the gifts and opportunities that each new day brings.

Newman himself called the Oxford University Sermons, first published in 1843, the best, not the most perfect, book I have done'. He added, I mean there is more to develop in it'. Indeed, the book is a precursor of all his major later works, including especially the Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine and the Grammar of Assent. Dealing with the relationship of faith and reason, the fifteen sermons represent Newman's resolution of the conflict between heart and head that so troubled believers, non-believers, and agnostics of the nineteenth century, Their controversial nature also makes them one of the primary documents of the Oxford Movement. This new edition provides an introduction to the sermons, a definitive text with textual variants, extensive annotation, and appendices containing previously unpublished material.

This book evaluates William Temple's theology and his pursuit of church unity. It exposes a number of paradoxes and conflicts that have generally gone under-appreciated in assessments of Temple. William Temple was one of the most outstanding leaders of the early ecumenical movement. In many ways his ecumenical efforts provided a paradigm others have looked to and followed. Through detailed analysis of primary sources, this study sheds light on several behind-the-scenes conflicts Temple experienced as he worked toward church unity. Edward Loane explores the foundation of Temple's work by analyzing the philosophy and theology that underpinned and fueled it. The book also exposes the tensions between Temple's denominational allegiance and his ecumenical convictions-a tension that, in some ways, undermined his work for reunion. This book reveals issues that contemporary Christians need to grapple with as they seek to further church unity.

In life he was larger than life. He made an immediate and memorable impact on those he met and with whom he worked. He was incredibly industrious in all his teaching, speaking, lecturing, composing, and above all in his writing. In the time others would take to think through the possibility of authoring a book, Erik would have gone to his longsuffering and slightly dyslexic typewriter and completed the manuscript. Gathering with his family at Westminster Abbey for his memorial service, the idea of a random collection of essays or a series of personal anecdotes was discarded by the editors. To appropriately honor this substantial life, something more systematic was required. Thus the idea for this volume was born. Each of the contributors, who has benefited in some way from his friendship, teaching and writing, has examined an area or a subject in which Erik Rowley has made his mark. Significantly, it has taken seventeen authors to cover some of the ground where his footprints are still fresh and the clarity of his voice still rings.

The conventional picture of Benjamin Jowett (1817-93) is of the outstanding educator, the famous master of Balliol College, Oxford, whose pupils were extremely influential in the public life of Britain in the second half of the nineteenth century. However, he is also recognized as a theologian since he contributed an essay 'On the Interpretation of Scripture' to Essays and Reviews, a collection published in 1860; the book's liberalism aroused great controversy, and it was eventually synodically condemned in 1864. It has been thought that having got into trouble over his essay, Jowett abandoned theology and became a purely secular figure. This book attempts to identify the ideas which caused Jowett to develop his theology, the thinkers who influenced him and how his own religious ideas evolved. It argues that, after the Essays and Reviews controversy, he deliberately chose to disseminate those ideas through the college of which he became master. It also shows how he influenced other religious thinkers and theologians of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, arguing that he was more important in the history of English theology than is usually recognized.

Timothy Connor shows how Donald MacKinnon's extension concept of kenosis to the doctrine of the Church offers a critical corrective to ecclesiological triumphalism. This book explores those aspects of Donald MacKinnon's theological writings which challenge the claim of the liberal Catholic tradition in the Church of England to have forged an ecclesiological consensus, namely that the Church is the extension of the incarnation. MacKinnon destabilized this claim by exposing the wide gulf between theory and practice in that church, especially in his own Anglo-Catholic tradition within it. For him the collapse of Christendom is the occasion for a dialectical reconstruction of the relation of the Church to Jesus Christ and to the world on the basis of the gospel. His basic claim is that authentic ecclesial existence must correspond with what was revealed and effected by Jesus along his way from Galilee to Jerusalem to Galilee. Reflection on the Church thus takes the form of a lived response shaped by a Christocentric grammar of faith: the submission of the church to Jesus' contemporaneous interrogation, a sustained attentiveness to him and the willing embrace of his 'hour'. "T&T Clark Studies in Systematic Theology" is a series of monographs in the field of Christian doctrine, with a particular focus on constructive engagement with major topics through historical analysis or contemporary restatement.

The high church movement within the Episcopal Church was antithetical to both the intellectual and social worlds of antebellum America, for it challenged the underlying assumptions of evangelicalism and held itself aloof from reform impulses. This book by Robert Bruce Mullin-the first to study the high church movement from the context of nineteenth-century American culture-discusses how the spiritual descendents of those who harassed the Pilgrims out of England defined themselves in an America that was "the land of the Pilgrims' pride." Mullin discusses the problems that faced the Episcopal Church after the American Revolution, analyzes the intellectual currents in Anglicanism of this period, and sketches the backgrounds of the chief individuals involved with the high church revival-in particular, John Henry Hobart, later bishop of New York. He shows how Hobart's theological and social-alternative synthesis, which called for a radical division between church and state, provoked controversy with evangelical Protestants on issues as diverse as theology, revivalism, temperance, and slavery. Tracing the history of the Episcopal Church from the early nineteenth century, when it was seen as an ark of refuge by critics of the "excesses" of evangelicalism, to 1870, when the antebellum high church synthesis had largely collapsed, Mullin explains its success and subsequent decline. Mullin's examination of the high church movement not only sheds light on the reasons for the flourishing of this alternative social and intellectual vision but also helps to account for the general crisis that confronted all American religious communities at the end of the century. In addition, his reconstruction of the tension between high church Episcopalians and evangelical Protestants provides a new historical perspective from which to view the larger debate over the nature and direction of the antebellum nation.

In early Victorian England there was intense interest in understanding the early Church as an inspiration for contemporary sanctity. This was manifested in a surge in archaeological inquiry and also in the construction of new churches using medieval models. Some Anglicans began to use a much more complicated form of ritual involving vestments, candles, and incense. This "Anglo-Catholic" movement was vehemently opposed by evangelicals and dissenters, who saw this as the vanguard of full-blown "popery." The disputed buildings, objects, and art works were regarded by one side as idolatrous and by the other as sacred and beautiful expressions of devotion. Dominic Janes seeks to understand the fierce passions that were unleashed by the contended practices and artifacts - passions that found expression in litigation, in rowdy demonstrations, and even in physical violence. During this period, Janes observes, the wider culture was preoccupied with the idea of pollution caused by improper sexuality. The Anglo-Catholics had formulated a spiritual ethic that linked goodness and beauty. Their opponents saw this visual worship as dangerously sensual. In effect, this sacred material culture was seen as a sexual fetish. The origins of this understanding, Janes shows, lay in radical circles, often in the context of the production of anti-Catholic pornography which titillated with the contemplation of images of licentious priests, nuns, and monks.

Originating in 1867 under the presidency of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference has proactively shaped the modern world by influencing areas as diverse as the ecumenical movement, post-war international relations, and the spiritual lives of hundreds of millions. A team of distinguished scholars from around the world now detail the historical legacy, theological meaning, and pastoral purpose of the Anglican Communion's decennial councils. The next Lambeth Conference will be crucial for the Anglican Communion, which is currently afflicted by destructive tensions over matters long central to Christian identity, such as the nature of holy orders, the definition of sexual morality, and the scope of ecclesial authority. Whether in supplication or celebration, both nurtured by diverse cultural contexts and furthered by the scope of ecumenical horizons, these essays break new ground. The Lambeth Conference is a faithful testament to generations past, and a spur to the ongoing restoration of Anglican theology and devotion in the present.

Anyone who finds solace in the words of the Book of Common Prayer will welcome this companion to its Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, to be used at the Ministration of the Holy Communion, throughout the Year.

Written for both the lay and ordained, this thought provoking commentary gives the words of Cranmer and his colleagues renewed meaning in our own time by providing historical context for their composition and reflection on their broader message. This book provides an excellent starting point for sermons or personal contemplation on the readings and prayers that comprise the liturgical year.

Carey s exposition of the biblical readings and Prayer Book collects is careful, thorough, and informed by a well-populated theological and cultural hinterland ... I wholeheartedly commend it and recommend it to every thoughtful Christian. - The Very Reverend Michael Sadgrove, Dean of Durham (from the foreword)

Kevin Carey is the Chairman of RNIB, the UK's leading blindness charity, and a Reader in his parish church. He has been a Member of General Synod, and is a chorister, published poet, and classical music critic.