All of us are natural theologians, willing and able to think through questions of belief and relate the insights of theologians to our public and personal lives. In this clear and engaging introduction, Thompsett gives us the tools to think theologically by grounding us in the history, theology, spirituality, and biblical foundations of Anglican belief, particularly that of the Episcopal church. Beginning with the Bible and what it reveals to us about the distinct calling of the People of God, Thompsett goes on to consider the insights of the Reformation regarding the importance of the laity and the contribution of lay people, particularly women, to the expansive mission of the nineteenth century in education and social work. She then explores different aspects of Anglican identity, and lay movements of liberation in the global South. Aimed primarily at a lay and non-specialist audience, this book introduces key facets of Anglicanism and aspects of contemporary theology. It is an excellent parish educational resource, especially for adult forums and group study.

From Elizabeth I's refoundation of the collegiate church to reforms and improvements attempted and achieved in the early years of James I's reign. The completion of Dr Knighton's edition of the first chapter minute book of Westminster Abbey records in detail Elizabeth I's refoundation of the collegiate church, including regulatio for preaching, the school and the library; the chapter's own housing is a continuing issue. Predominantly, however, the acts document the chapter's estate management: lease particulars shed light on the population of early modern Westminster and London. Favours sought by queen and courtiers are recorded, the exercise of the dean and chapter's ecclesiastical patronage is registered. At the end of the period the abbey was home to some of the most eminent churchmen and scholars of the day, Andrewes, Bancroft, Camden and Hakluyt among them. Reforms and improvements attempted and achieved in the early years of James I's reign conclude the volume. Index to both vols.CHARLES KNIGHTON gained his Ph.D. from Magdalene College, Cambridge.

In this first volume to the New Church's Teaching Series James Griffiss provides an introduction to the Anglican tradition. He focuses especially on Anglicanism's ability to hold together theological continuity (especially the emphasis on the Incarnation) with social and cultural change. After discussing the Episcopal Church today and the ways in which it has changed over the past fifty years, Griffiss shows how the distinctive Anglican approach has been lived out in its history, spirituality, mission, worship, and approach to Scripture. Throughout, the book stresses the place of Anglicanism in the late twentieth century and its ability to be both flexible and traditional in rapidly changing cultures. The Anglican Vision is intended for wide parish use, including adult education, parish forums, inquirers and newcomers classes, and study groups throughout the church year. It includes a study guide, list of resources, and suggestions for further reading.

This volume is a synthesis of the research articles of one of Europe's leading scholars of 16th-century exile communities. It will be invaluable to the growing number of historians interested in the religious, intellectual, social and economic impact of stranger communities on the rapidly changing nation that was Elizabethan and early Stuart England. Southern England in general, and London in particular, played a unique part in offering refuge to Calvinist exiles for more than a century. For the English government, the attraction of exiles was not so much their Reformed religion and discipline as their economic potential - the exiles were in the main skilled craftsmen and well-connected merchants who could benefit the English economy.

Lesser Feasts and Fasts had not been updated since 2006. This updated edition, adopted at the 79th General Convention (resolution A065), fills that need. Biographies and collects associated with those included within the volume have been updated; a deliberate effort has been made to more closely balance the men and women represented within its pages.

The new Church's Teachings series has been one of the most recognizable and useful sets of books in the Episcopal Church. With the launch of the Church's Teachings for a Changing World series, visionary Episcopal thinkers and leaders have teamed up to write a new set of books, grounded and thoughtful enough for seminarians and leaders, concise and accessible enough for newcomers, with a host of discussion resources that help readers to dig deep. What's really going on when Episcopalians gather for worship? Musician Dent Davidson and Bishop Jeff Lee bring decades of partnership to this lively conversation about the rituals that make faith real-gathering, bathing, welcoming, storytelling, feasting, and sending God's people. More than a treatise on the Book of Common Prayer, Gathered for God opens fresh ways of seeing what the Prayer Book makes possible.

The story of Episcopalians in America is the story of an influential denomination that has furnished a large share of the American political and cultural leadership. Beginning with the Episcopal Church's roots in sixteenth-century England, The Episcopalians offers a fresh account of its rise to prominence. Chronologically arranged, it traces the establishment of colonial Anglicanism in the New World through the birth of the Episcopal Church after the Revolution and its rise throughout the nineteenth century, ending with the complex array of forces that helped shape it in the 20th century and the consecration of Gene Robinson in 2003. The authors focus not only on the established leadership of the church but also to the experience of lay people, the form and function of sacred space, the evolution of church parties and theology, relations with other Christian communities, and the evolving ministries of women and minorities.

Newly revised, expanded, and perfected text from the 78th General Convention of The Episcopal Church, held in Salt Lake City in July 2015. Church Publishing will make the full approved resource available by Advent 2015. Church Publishing is honored to work with the General Convention Office and the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to provide this important resource for the church.

A fresh, new voice in the Episcopal Church addresses traditionally un-Episcopal questions that Episcopalians (and Christians in general) are asking today * An emergent, yet Anglican and orthodox, perspective on Biblical theology, grounded in today's context of human behavior * Includes questions for reflection and study by individuals and groups New Clothes speaks to two very specific challenges we face at this unique time in the life of the church. It would seem we are equally ineffective at transforming the lives of the "un-churched" world as we are the established, declining "churched" world. Whereas one group is altogether unfamiliar with the Gospel, many sleepy pew sitters have become overly familiar with it! And both cases leave people stuck. This new book lays out the orthodox Christian message of hope in a way that speaks to each group. Using modern psychological and biblical knowledge to refresh historic Christian doctrines, including those of creation, sin, atonement, spiritual rebirth, and resurrection, it offers a springboard into practical measures we can take now to enter this story so that we might be transformed. It is the book the church needs as we re-imagine Christian life in the 21st century.

She Flies On is not really a critique of organized religion, but rather Carter Heyward's effort to think theologically, politically, socially, and autobiographically about the world and the church in which she has lived and worked. A Christian feminist "theologian of liberation," Episcopal priest, lesbian, Southerner, and socialist Democrat, Heyward writes about the church, but more about the people-and creatures-of God going about their lives and attempting to love one another.

The eccentricities of the Hervey family in the eighteenth century caused it to be said that when God created the world he made men, women, and Herveys. By far the most eccentric of them all was Frederick Hervey (the subject of this biography), Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry. Traveller, politician, rabble-rouser, scholar, collector and the subject of a series of amorous adventures, his life was a continual source of amazement to his contemporaries. Horace Walpole condemned his profligate folly, John Wesley praised his plenteous good works, and George 111 denounced his as 'that wicked prelate'.

As a patron of the arts he was responsible for building three great houses, of which Ickworth in Suffolk is now the only survivor. As a traveller he spent money lavishly and startled foreigners by his extraordinary dress (the many Bristol hotels in Europe are named after him). In politics he was a staunch Whig and though an Anglican Bishop he bravely defended the rights of Catholics and Presbyterians in Ireland, joining vigorously in the movement for emancipation and reform. His political intrigues in Europe at the time of the French Revolution landed him, for a brief spell, in prison but failed to suppress his irresistible zest for life and adventure.

Frederick Hervey lived the sort of life that was well suited to Brian Fothergill's biographical penchants that always flourished on the more outre margins of eighteenth and early nineteenth century history.

Faber Finds is reissuing four of Brian Fothergill's books: "The Cardinal King," "The Mitred Earl," "Nicholas Wiseman" and The "Strawberry Hill Set."

In the early seventeenth century, as the vehement aggression of the early Reformation faded, the Church of England was able to draw upon scholars of remarkable ability to present a more thoughtful defence of its position. The Caroline Divines, who flourished under King Charles I, drew upon vast erudition and literary skill, to refute the claims of the Church of Rome and affirm the purity of the English religious settlement. This book examines their writings in the context of modern ecumenical dialogue, notably that of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) to ask whether their arguments are still valid, and indeed whether they can contribute to contemporary ecumenical progress. Drawing upon an under-used resource within Anglicanism's own theological history, this volume shows how the restatement by the Caroline Divines of the catholic identity of the Church prefigured the work of ARCIC, and provides Anglicans with a vocabulary drawn from within their own tradition that avoids some of the polemical and disputed formulations of the Roman Catholic tradition.

First published in 1975. In 1869 the Church of Ireland, until then part of the Church of England, was disestablished and partially disendowed. The author traces the changes in the Church of Ireland's organization and function and the decline of its influence and numerical size during the hundred years following disestablishment. This title will be of interest to students of nineteenth- and twentieth-century religious and social history.

When Henry VIII died in 1547 he left a church in England that had broken with Rome - but was it Protestant? The English Reformation was quite different in its methods, motivations and results to that taking place on the continent.
This book:
* examines the influences of continental reform on England
* describes the divorce of Henry VIII and the break with Rome
* discusses the political and religious consequences of the break with Rome
* assesses the success of the Reformation up to 1547
* provides a clear guide to the main strands of historical thought on the topic.


eBook available with sample pages: 0203130405

Unique account of the affairs of the Church of England during a period of colossal change and controversy. This is the first comprehensive historical picture to be published of the life and work of the Church of England in the second half of the twentieth century. It traces the evolution of the Church in a period of immense upheaval, giving not only a detailed portrait of the work of its archbishops and bishops, but also exploring the Church's relationship with the State, the changes within its central institutions, and the response of the wider community to those changes. Placing the Church of England in its social context, Andrew Chandler examines the parochial reforms which arose in response to the realities of domestic and international migration, multi-culturalism and secularization. Other themes explored are the administration of property (particularly bishops' houses and the work of the cathedrals), 'ethical investment', and the recent crises which are still the subject of argument. Included among theseare the financial speculations of the late 1980s and early 1990s, from which flowed controversies about the reform of the Church of England itself and the nature of its relationship with the state. ANDREW CHANDLER is Director of the George Bell Institute, Birmingham, and Honorary Lecturer at the University of Birmingham.

B. W. Young describes and analyses the intellectual culture of the eighteenth-century Church of England, in particular relation to those developments traditionally described as constituting the Enlightenment. It challenges conventional perceptions of an intellectually moribund institution by contextualising the polemical and scholarly debates in which churchmen engaged. In particular, it delineates the vigorous clerical culture in which much eighteenth-century thought evolved. The book traces the creation of a self-consciously enlightened tradition within Anglicanism, which drew on Erasmianism, seventeenth-century eirenicism and the legacy of Locke. By emphasizing the variety of its intellectual life, the book challenges those notions of Enlightenment which advance predominantly political interpretations of this period. Thus, eighteenth-century critics of the Enlightenment, notably those who contributed to a burgeoning interest in mysticism, are equally integral to this study.

Dr Foster traces the eventful history of the Church of England from shortly after its establishment in Elizabeth I's reign down to 1640, when it was on the verge of destruction. As well as analysing its principal features he considers the conflicting interpretations that this most controversial of periods has stimulated. He also provides a detailed chronological chart to help students with alternative readings of events and to prompt thoughts about how `facts shift according to different perspectives'.

Provides a guide and access in dictionary form, to selected central British institutional terms, which are widely employed in contemporary British life. The word "institutions" is applied in a broad sense to cover, for example, political and governmental institutions; local government; international institutions with which Britain has connections; legal, economic and industrial institutions; education; the media; religion and social welfare; health and housing institutions; geographical and traditional social terms and institutions. The aim of the guide is to provide sufficient information in one volume to render these terms intelligible to students or professionals who are concerned with fundamental aspects of British society. The book also contains lists of British governments and prime ministers, lists of kings and queens, and a concise overview of key events in British history.

John Henry Newman is often described as 'the Father of the Second Vatican Council'. He anticipated most of the Council's major documents, as well as being an inspiration to the theologians who were behind them. His writings offer an illuminating commentary both on the teachings of the Council and the way these have been implemented and interpreted in the post-conciliar period. This book is the first sustained attempt to consider what Newman's reaction to Vatican II would have been. As a theologian who on his own admission fought throughout his life against theological liberalism, yet who pioneered many of the themes of the Council in his own day, Newman is best described as a conservative radical who cannot be classed simply as either a conservative or liberal Catholic. At the time of the First Vatican Council, Newman adumbrated in his private letters a mini-theology of Councils, which casts much light on Vatican II and its aftermath. Noted Newman scholar, Ian Ker, argues that Newman would have greatly welcomed the reforms of the Council, but would have seen them in the light of his theory of doctrinal development, insisting that they must certainly be understood as changes but changes in continuity rather than discontinuity with the Church's tradition and past teachings. He would therefore have endorsed the so-called 'hermeneutic of reform in continuity' in regard to Vatican II, a hermeneutic first formulated by Pope Benedict XVI and subsequently confirmed by his successor, Pope Francis, and rejected both 'progressive' and ultra-conservative interpretations of the Council as a revolutionary event. Newman believed that what Councils fail to speak of is of great importance, and so a final chapter considers the kind of evangelization - a topic notably absent from the documents of Vatican II - Newman thought appropriate in the face of secularization.

The Anglican Communion is one of the largest Christian denominations in the world. Growth and Decline in the Anglican Communion is the first study of its dramatic growth and decline in the years since 1980. An international team of leading researchers based across five continents provides a global overview of Anglicanism alongside twelve detailed case studies. The case studies stretch from Singapore to England, Nigeria to the USA and mostly focus on non-western Anglicanism. This book is a critical resource for students and scholars seeking an understanding of the past, present and future of the Anglican Church. More broadly, the study offers insight into debates surrounding secularisation in the contemporary world.

In this notable contribution to the study of John Wesley and George Whitefield, Ian Maddock discovers the affinity between two preachers often contrasted as enemies. The controversial Free Grace episode of the early eighteenth century, which highlighted the theological divisions between Wesley's Arminianism and Whitefield's Calvinism, has influenced the scholarly division of these forerunners of the Eighteenth Century Revival, resulting in a polarised critical heritage. In a critical assessment of John Wesley, the 'scholar preacher', and George Whitefield, the 'actor preacher', Maddock gives due attention to their differences but unifies them in their commitment to the authority of the Bible, their rhetorical devices and their thematic similarities, showing how they often explicated different theories with the same evidence. Men of One Book explains how these contemporaries, who each knew of the other at Oxford University and as preachers, each faced ecclesiastical opposition and social stigma, but sought for a print-and-preach ministry in which the spoken and written word would spread the Gospel throughout the transatlantic world. 'Men of One Book' is a volume that will interest anyone concerned with the Eighteenth Century Revival, the rise of Methodism or the history of evangelicalism. Ian J. Maddock is Lecturer in Theology at Sydney Missionary and Bible College, and received his PhD from the University of Aberdeen. 'A wonderful comparative treatment of the two dominant preachers of the first Great Awakening. Maddock is equally sure-footed working meticulously through the voluminous manuscript sermons of Wesley and Whitefield as if painting the details of their complex and interwoven leadership of the evangelical revivals. There is no other work that so faithfully renders portraits of these two on their own terms as well as in relation to each other.' Richard Lints, Andrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of Theology, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

The convocation records of the Churches of England and Ireland are the principal source of our information about the administration of those churches from middle ages until modern times. They contain the minutes of clergy synods, the legislation passed by them, tax assessments imposed by the king on the clergy, and accounts of the great debates about religious reformation; they also include records of heresy trials in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, many of them connected with the spread of Lollardy. However, they have never before been edited or published in full, and their publication as a complete set of documents provides a valuable resource for scholarship.This volume contains the details of the many convocations summoned during a time when they were not allowed to transact business. Included are the names of those who were summoned to attend, the loyal addresses which they invariably offered to the reigning monarch and some fascinating details of disputed elections, particularly that in Exeter in 1818-20. The petitions presented to the government for the revival of convocation after 1837 are also printed, and the volume includes a complete list of convocation sermons and prolocutors from the middle ages to the present day.

First published in 1969, this book studies the years of decline in the Victorian Church between 1868 and 1882. It centres on the Archbishop Tait, who was paradoxically the most powerful Archbishop of Canterbury since the seventeenth century, and follows the policies he pursued, the high church opposition it provoked and the involvement of Parliament. This book will be of interest to students of history and religion of the Victorian era.