The Anglican Communion has been tearing itself apart over the issue of homosexuality since the Lambeth Conference in 1998 and rumblings of discontent stretch back years before that. Most Anglican debate on homosexuality focuses the argument on the Bible. Does the Bible allow homosexuality or not? This book begins by taking one step back from the argument. It looks at what it means to approach a text as scripture, from the standpoint of faith. It then examines why the Bible is used to claim such radically different positions and why those who argue for either position can legitimately claim to find their argument supported by reading the Bible. Anglicans (and others) who disagree about what their scriptures claim need to understand why there is a disagreement. It is only by stepping back from the argument and trying to understand why it exists hat any sort of resolution can ever be found.

Peter Toon was a Yorkshireman, an Anglican clergyman, theologian, and church historian. Former librarian of Latimer House in Oxford, curate of St Ebbe's, and later a tutor at Oak Hill, after a brief spell in County Durham he moved to America and served churches in the United States until almost the end of his life. He was President of the Prayer Book Society in the United States, but eventually returned to England to serve as Priest-in-Charge of a Staffordshire village church. He was widely in demand as a speaker throughout the Commonwealth, Europe, and Asia. The inaugural Peter Toon Lecture, established in his memory, was delivered by Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali on the subject of what the Thirty-nine Articles call the "most wholesome doctrine" of justification by faith. His thoughtful presentation ranges widely from Genesis 15 and Galatians 3, to Augustine, the Reformers, the Council of Trent, Tom Wright, John Piper, and Benedict XVI. 'In a tour-de-force, Bishop Michael tackles the vital subject of being right with God exegetically, historically, theologically, and pastorally. It is stretching, though intelligible for the ordinary lay Christian, and demonstrates good evidence of keeping up with contemporary scholarship on this subject, which is of course vast.' (Lee Gatiss, Director of Church Society) Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali was formerly bishop of Rochester. A personal friend of Peter and Vita Toon, Dr. Nazir-Ali's latest book Triple Jeopardy for the West examines the very hot topics of aggressive secularism, radical Islam, and multiculturalism. He is currently the President of the Oxford Centre for Training, Research, Advocacy, and Dialogue.

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic, timeless works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.

Is the Church of England in terminal decline, as some have forecast, or does it have a vigorous future? Reports of dwindling congregations, and waning influence, contrast with stories of motivated leadership, and solid growth. The Church Times decided it was time to give the C of E a thorough medical. Thirty-five specialists, including academics, researchers, parish priests, missioners and commentators, were asked to take the Church's temperature. They looked at its congregations, leadership, governance and social influence. And then they were invited to prescribe some remedies. Not everyone agreed, either about what is wrong or what needs to be done, but a serious, and alarming consensus has emerged - the patient does needs treatment, and it needs it urgently.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ The Theological Works Of Isaac Barrow: Sermons On The Creed; Volume 5 Of The Theological Works Of Isaac Barrow; Isaac Barrow Isaac Barrow, William Whewell Alexander Napier The University Press, 1859 Theology

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ The Theological Works Of Isaac Barrow: The Opuscula; Poemata; Two Dissertations; Sermons &c. Attributed To Barrow. A Notice Of Barrow's Life And Academical Times By W. Whewell; Volume 9 Of The Theological Works Of Isaac Barrow; Isaac Barrow Isaac Barrow, William Whewell Alexander Napier The University Press, 1859 Theology

Volume 3 of The Gospel According to Matthew contains a fresh translation of the text, plus forty one exegetical sermons from Matthew chapters twelve through fifteen.

About the Contributor(s): George Hobson is an Episcopal priest and Canon to the Bishop for Theological Education in the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe. He has taught theology in seminaries and theological colleges in many developing countries, including Rwanda, Burundi, Haiti, Armenia, and Pakistan. He is author of a volume of poems and photographs, Rumours of Hope (2005), and contributor to a collective book of poetry, Forgotten Genocides of the Twentieth Century (2005).

This is the last volume in the set for Ordinary Time in the Christian Year and it completes a series of meditations for the whole year. For the weekday readings at Mass there is a two-year cycle. Over the two years there is a different first reading from the Scriptures whilst both years share the same Gospel readings. On Sundays there is a three-year cycle with the Gospel readings taken from Matthew, Mark, and Luke respectively.

One of the ways we grow in our faith is by knowing the Scriptures well. Even if we do not attend Mass daily we can always meditate on the set readings. When we do this it will lead us into parts of our Bible that hitherto we may not have ventured. If digested properly they will undoubtedly prompt questions and raise topics for prayer and further research. This book is designed to help you to understand your Bible better and how it unveils the work of salvation by our loving God, beginning with the call of Abraham and His relationship with His chosen people. When the time was right God sent His Son into the world to continue God's redeeming love for all creation.

So the Old Testament prepared the way for the coming of the Christ that is recorded in the New Testament. It is this part of the Bible that is particularly interesting for Christians today as it gives insight as to how those first Christians came to believe in Jesus as their Saviour and were baptised into His death. It also reveals many of the problems that beset the first Christians over morality, worship, and obligations. These are still relevant today. Thus we need to heed the advice of Paul and other Christian writers of the first century in how we live out the teachings of Christ.

This short history of Christianity in England since the close of the Middle Ages was first published for the Religious Book Club in 1953* It was immediately welcomed. The Church Times called it 'a miracle of accomplished comprehension', and the (Manchester) Guardian 'quite extraordinarily good'. The Times Educational Supplement commented on its 'abounding momentum and not a single dull page'. The author has now revised the book for this cheap edition, and an Epilogue continues the story of the English churches down to 1960.

Thirty Nine New Articles offers a vision of a fresh, generous, contemporary Anglican faith and life. Inspired by the original Thirty Nine Articles of Religion, the Church of England's historic statement of belief, it explores thirty-nine beliefs and practices that characterize Anglicanism today and the issues it grapples with. Recognizing difference and urging generosity of spirit , author Martin Percy focuses on Anglican understanding of key Christian doctrines; personal faith; our shared life with each other, with other churches and with society around us. He also celebrates some of Anglicanism's guiding spirits, from St Columba to George Herbert. Warm, engaging and inspiring, Thirty Nine New Articles offers crucial and critical insights, proclaiming the Christian faith today and offering an apologia for the Anglican Church. It is essential reading for all seeking fresh and relevant ways of articulating their faith.

This report of the Church Schools Review Group follows the Groups Consultation report issued in December 2000. The report provides a critique of Church Schools, argues for an increase in provision/numbers, especially at the secondary level, argues that Church Schools must be distinctively Christian institutions and calls for the vocation of teaching to be more explicitly recognised by the Church. The Way Ahead aims to show that Church schools stand at the centre of the Churchs mission to the nation.

Can simply bringing a young man to church incur the wrath of Satan? Although she believes in God, Joanna Sutton refuses to admit Satan exists until she begins to experience things he seems to be doing. Ball lightning hits her house, a demon appears at her doorstep, she falls asleep while driving and a benevolent ghost encourages her to open a small unused building behind the house she is renting. When the ghost disappears and she realizes that he not just a friendly neighbor, she calls Father Michael, the priest at her church. He helps her open the building and they find a tiny human skeleton inside. Father Michael and Joanna have a long talk, and she finally realizes that Satan is at work in her town and will try to destroy her and those she loves. Together they make plans to fight back.

A modern-language adaptation of the traditional Catechism of the Book of Common Prayer with notes, suggested Bible readings, and questions for reflection.

This is the second volume of a three-volume set for Ordinary Time in the Christian Year. For the weekday readings at Mass there is a two-year cycle: Year A and Year B. Over the two years there is a different first reading from the Scriptures whilst both years share the same Gospel readings. On Sundays there is a three-year cycle.

Ordinary Time has often been described as the growing season in the Christian Year. After having celebrated the major observances in our Lord's life over the span of five months or less, the rest of the year is devoted to our Lord's ministry rather than to events in his life. It is a time to discover how the early Christian communities remembered the teaching and preaching of the Lord in light of their own experiences.

That preaching and experience we can read about in the earliest Christian documents in the genuine letters of St. Paul in the New Testament. At the centre of his preaching was Christ's death and resurrection, in which the baptised shared. Paul wrote his letters to deal with problems that arose in those first Christian communities. When we read the Pauline Letters we realise that not much has changed. Human nature is still basically the same and as a result the same problems that arose two thousand years ago we still have today. Hence St. Paul speaks also to us.

As well as the Pauline Letters, Ordinary Time covers many other parts of our Bible, both the Old and New Testaments. By meditating on the daily set readings, our lives as Christians are enriched as we come to a deeper understanding of Scripture.

Since Christianity is an ethical as well as a mystical religion and since individuals live in communities, the church is bound to be involved in politics and other social action that determines the quality of human life. So argues Trevor Beeson in this study of how the Church of England's leaders responded to the radical social changes that transformed life in Britain during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Their response was never prompt and rarely enthusiastic,and all too often the bishops resisted change in society as well as in the church. Nonetheless there were always a few prophets who recognised the need for reform and sometimes led the way to its realisation. Trevor Beeson traces the course of a fascinating period of history, starting from the time when church and state were bonded in an all-embracing unity, then moving through turbulent and and sometimes violent times in which the church struggled to discover a new vocation. Trevor Beeson analyses 18 key issues of the period in his usual robust style together with pen-portraits of the leading figures involved.. He ends with a critical evalualtion of the performances of some recent church leaders and outlines what he believes to be the appropriate basis for the intervention of bishops and other clergy in an increasingly secularised society that no longer recognises their authority. The duty to make pronouncements of Christian principle remains but these must normally point decision-makers in constructive directions rather than offering directives for the solutions of complex social and economic problems.

In this fascinating book Arthur Peacocke shares with his readers a short autobiographical portrait of his life and his reflections on Christian faith and practice, based on addresses he has given. In a final section, he explores the implications for Christian belief of the scientific world view. He embraces the paradox of the Christian tradition as a simultaneous respect for what has been handed on to us and a critical revising, enriching and amplifying of it in the light of science under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Reverend Canon Arthur Peacocke, MBE, DD, DSC, sosc, for twenty-five years, pursued an academic scientific career in the Universities of Birmingham and Oxford in the field of physical biochemistry (especially concerned with DNA). After ordination in 1971 as a priest-scientist while a Fellow of St Peter's College, Oxford, he subsequently became Dean of Clare College, Cambridge, during which time he gave the Bampton Lectures in Oxford (published in 1979 as Creation and the World of Science). He returned to Oxford in 1984 as Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre, Oxford, until 1988, (a post he resumed in 1995), and gave the Gifford Lectures at St Andrews in 1993, which are included in his Theology for a Scientific Age (2nd enlarged edition, for which he received an international Templeton prize). He started the Science and Religion Forum in 1972 and was the first Warden of the Society of Ordained Scientists from 1987 to 1992. He is an Honorary Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. Dr Peacocke is the author of, and a contributor to, many books and papers on theology and science.

From the Celtic and Saxon saints whose vision was to shape he English church, to the prophetic voices of our own day, this splendid collection draws on over a thousand years of spiritual writing and provides an engaging portrait of the rich diversity of Anglican worship, doctrine and life. The classical Anglican synthesis of scripture, reason and tradition finds various expression in the writings of over two hundred figures including Augustine, Hilda, Bede, Anselm, Wycliffe, Cranmer, the seventeenth-century divines, Wesley, Newman, Evelyn Underhill, Austin Farrer, C S Lewis, Desmond Tutu and many more. Beginning with the roots of Anglican spirituality and the shaping of Anglican identity, this anthology explores the Anglican understanding of worship, the sacraments, prayer, mission, the Bible, the Church and living as a Christian in the world. A Feast of Anglican Spirituality celebrates the heritage of Anglicanism in all its breadth and variety, its triumphs and its failures, its ability to recognize other points of view and, above all, its indebtedness to the wider Christian tradition of which it is a part.

In the past, world mission in the Church of England largely meant working through independent Anglican agencies such as CMS and USPG. Today, the picture is very different. Many dioceses and even some parishes have their own companion links with partner churches in the Anglican Communion and there have been major shifts in the way that mission itself is understood. The distinction between 'home' and 'world' mission is blurred, and separating 'mission' from 'development' is no longer straightforward. Christian Aid, Tearfund and other agencies are now part of the wider pattern, and much of the church's mission now involves close working with other denominations. It is clear that the way we talk about world mission needs to develop. This landmark study is the result of a three year project by the Mission and Public Affairs Division of the Archbishops' Council to 'develop a new, better, narrative of mission' for the church. It is the fruit of close consultation with mission and development agencies, dioceses and others engaged in mission activity. World Shaped Mission will reconfigure the way the church talks about, and practices, mission in the world today. JANICE PRICE is World Mission Policy Adviser for the Church of England.

This is a study of Church and Society between the two World Wars as seen through the eyes of an able, caustic, individualist churchman. Herbert Hensley Henson held strong opinions on all subjects. He was the critic, on moral grounds, of the behaviour of the trade unions. He came into fierce controversy with the miners' national leaders. He strenuously defended the establishment of the Church of England, and then, because the House of Commons behaved badly over the Prayer Book, became its most vocal assailant. He stood for the right of Christians to profess their faith while remaining agnostic about miracles. He helped the Church to accept more modern attitudes to divorce. At times he was the most unpopular person among the Churches. But by courage he won a rueful respect, and by compassion he won from some a smiling admiration.

What rare learning John Breay has... the whole mood and air of the Victorian Church of the north-west can be breathed. What fun the man Brunskill is, with little insights into famous men like Sharp, Villiers and Harvey Goodwin... wonderful to meet a clergyman whose expertise is the shoeing of horses... The self-educated man who left school at fifteen and is interested in Wordsworth and Ruskin... can hold down the job of a headmaster and can write English prose in letters to the Press!' -The Revd Professor Owen Chadwick