The Anglican church has been no stranger to controversy during its history but the debates raging at the moment are among the hottest it has known. This book asks some prominent Anglicans why they are still in the church and what they love about it. Representing Anglicanism in all its range and diversity, the contributors are positive about the church and their place in it, and show appreciation, rather than resentment, of a Church that is broad enough to contain those of opposing views. This is a personal, partial and affectionate (though by no means uncritical) glimpse of the Anglican Church.

Bringing together the authors's experience of working in Europe, the United States, and Australia, this book includes the latest rites for welcoming adults into church membership, together with a detailed account of the Adult Catechumenate and the way in which adults may make a journey into faith, making commitment at the right time on the way and following through into discipleship.

The relationship between the Syrian Orthodox Church in the Ottoman Empire and the Church of England developed substantially between 1895 and 1914, as contacts between them grew. As the character of this emerging relationship changed, it contributed to the formation of both churches' own 'narratives of identity'. The wider context in which this took place was a period of instability in the international order, particularly within the Ottoman Empire, culminating in the outbreak of the First World War, effectively bringing this phase of sustained contact to an end. Narratives of Identity makes use of Syriac, Garshuni, and Arabic primary sources from Syrian Orthodox archives in Turkey and Syria, alongside Ottoman documents from the Basbakanlik Osmanli Arsivi, Istanbul, and a range of English archival sources. The preconceptions of both Churches are analysed, using a philosophical framework provided by the work of Paul Ricoeur, especially his concepts of significant memory (anamnesis), translation, and the search for mutual recognition. Anamnesis and translation were extensively employed in the formation of 'narratives of identity' that needed to be understood by both Churches. The identity claims of the Tractarian section of the Church of England and of the Ottoman Syrian Orthodox Church are examined using this framework. The detailed content of the theological dialogue between them, is then examined, and placed in the context of the rapidly changing demography of eastern Anatolia, the Syrian Orthodox 'heartland'. The late Ottoman state was characterised by an increased instability for all its non-Muslim minorities, which contributed to the perceived threats to Ottoman Syrian Orthodoxy, both from within and without. Finally, a new teleological framework is proposed in order to better understand these exchanges, taking seriously the amamnetic insights of the narratives of identity of both the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Church of England from 1895 to 1914.

Adrian Empey: The medieval parish: a school for laity Colm Lennon: The formation of a lay community in the Church of Ireland, 1580-1647 T.C. Barnard: Piety 'too masculine, too much governed by right reason'? Lay people and the Church of Ireland, 1647-1780 Patrick Comerford: A silent laity in the days of a silken prelacy and a slumbering priesthood? Lay people, 1780-1830 W.G. Neely: Reform and reorganisation: the laity and the Irish church, 1830-1870 Kenneth Milne: the laity in the twentieth century David Hayton: The development and limitations of Protestant ascendancy: the Church of Ireland laity in public life, 1660-1740 Jacqueline Hill: The Church of Ireland laity and the public sphere, 1740- 1869 Martin Maguire: 'Our people': the Church of Ireland laity and the language of community in Dublin since Disestablishment Raymond Gillespie: Lay spirituality and worship, 1558-1800 John Paterson: Lay spirituality and worship, 1800-1900 Stephen McBride: The laity in the church: church building, 1000-2000