Exorcism is more widespread in contemporary England than perhaps at any other time in history. The Anglican Church is by no means the main provider of this ritual, which predominantly takes place in independent churches. However, every one of the Church of England dioceses in the country now designates at least one member of its clergy to advise on casting out demons. Such `deliverance ministry' is in theory made available to all those parishioners who desire it. Yet, as Francis Young reveals, present-day exorcism in Anglicanism is an unlikely historical anomaly. It sprang into existence in the 1970s within a church that earlier on had spent whole centuries condemning the expulsion of evil spirits as either Catholic superstition or evangelical excess. This book for the first time tells the full story of the Anglican Church's approach to demonology and the exorcist's ritual since the Reformation in the sixteenth century. The author explains how and why how such a remarkable transformation in the Church's attitude to the rite of exorcism took place, while also setting his subject against the canvas of the wider history of ideas.

A rich and powerful exploration of desire, sin and redemption, by "our best chronicler of the rewards and pitfalls of present-day faith" [PHILIP PULLMAN] "A novel that probes any number of aggressive varieties of moralism, while testing the reader's own moral alertness for rigour, realism and generosity. An engrossing, three-dimensional, grown-up narrative." ROWAN WILLIAMS "An irresistibly readable, thoughtful and characteristically witty examination of the quandaries and compromises faced by the Church of England in an era of decline . . . I loved this book for its lightness of touch about serious subjects and for dialogue that glitters like clashing rapiers." MIRANDA SEYMOUR As a woman in the early 1980s, Clarissa Phipps is unable to pursue her vocation to the priesthood. Instead, she joins the BBC's religious affairs department, where she is sent to interview celebrated artist, Seward Wemlock, about the panels he is painting for an ancient Cheshire church. "A serious and important writer" ROSE TREMAIN Thirty years on, Clarissa, now rector of that same church, chances upon Brian, the chief bell-ringer and husband of her closest friend, fondling fifteen-year-old David. Dismissing David's claim that they are in love, Clarissa is obliged to act. Will she choose friendship or conscience, sympathy or her official duty of care? The fallout from that choice forces her to reflect on the original controversy over Wemlock's panels and her concerns about his relationship with the teenagers who modelled for Adam and Eve. Had she acted on the whispers that reached her at the time, how many lives - her own included - would have turned out differently? The Choice is a rich and powerful exploration of desire, sin and redemption, questioning whether it's possible, let alone prudent, to separate the art from the artist. It examines the fault lines in both religious and secular society, from the AIDS crisis and the struggle for women's ordination in the 1980s to the culture wars of today. Richly comic and deeply compassionate, The Choice is a remarkable synthesis of the sacred and profane. "At a time when British fiction has never been more timorous about tackling novels of ideas, Michael Arditti has produced one worthy of Iris Murdoch and Graham Greene. Brilliantly ambiguous, waspishly witty and thoroughly enjoyable, this is Michael Arditti's own masterpiece to date" AMANDA CRAIG

The first general study of different attitudes to conformity and the political and cultural significance of the resulting consensus on what came to be regarded as orthodox. The different ways in which people expressed `conformity' or `nonconformity' to the 1559 settlement of religion in the English church have generally been treated separately by historians: Catholic recusancy and occasional conformity; Protestant ministerial subscription to the canons and articles of the Church of England; the innovations made by avant-garde conformist clerics to the early Stuart Church; and conformist support for the prayer book in the 1640s. This is the first book to look across the board at what was politically important about conformity, aiming to assess how different attitudes to conformity affected what was regarded as orthodox or true religion in the English Church: that is, the political and cultural significance of the ways in which one could obey or disobey the law governing the Church. The introduction places the articles in the context of the recent historiography of the late Tudor and early Stuart Church. PETER LAKE is Professor of History, Princeton University; MICHAEL QUESTIER is Senior Research Fellow, St Mary's Strawberry Hill. Contributors: ALEXANDRA WALSHAM, MICHAEL QUESTIER, PAULINE CROFT, KENNETH FINCHAM, THOMAS FREEMAN, PETER LAKE, ANDREW FOSTER, NICHOLAS TYACKE, DAVID COMO, JUDITH MALTBY.

"Really wonderful; an elegantly written initiation into the mimetic theory. I am lucky to have interpreters who understand what I want to say and who can write so well." -Rene Girard The work of Rene Girard is hugely influential in literature and cultural studies. But it is in understanding the relationship between religion and violence that his theory has created its greatest impact. Girard's understanding of mimetic rivalry and conflict and of scapegoating is seen by many to be the key to a completely new understanding of Christianity. Girard's name evokes curiosity and-often-strong feelings among devotees and skeptics. Discovering Girard is the first book to present Girard's work to a wider audience. It explains and appraises Girard's mimetic theory, shows its impact on theology and other disciplines, and manages to convey the excitement that a discovery of Girard's ideas often generates in readers.

The variety and depth of Anglican theology is best engaged through personal encounter with its many sources - the theologians and theological witnesses themselves. Anglican theology is often worked out in personal terms that provide a synthesis between reflection on the truths of faith and the particular contexts of culture and life. This book presents modern Anglican theology through a unique 'gallery'. This theological gallery includes a portrait or sketch of ten Anglican writers - DuBose, Farrer, Stringfellow, Brooks, Kemper, DeKoven, McCord Adams, Polkinghorne, Gore and Macquarrie. Theological description, interpretation and application are included for each, with the presentations differing as widely as the theologians and theological witnesses themselves. Drawing together understandings and experiences of faith, this will be an invaluable resource for students of Anglican theology and anyone who seeks to understand the distinctive perspectives and contributions of Anglicanism relative to living faith and daily life.

Archbishop Michael Ramsey's archiepiscopate from 1961 to 1974 saw profound renegotiations of the relationship of the Church of England with its own flock, with the nation more widely, with the Anglican church worldwide, and with the other Christian churches. Drawing from unique source material in the Lambeth Palace Library archives and reproducing many original writings of Ramsey for the first time, this book explores key questions which surround Ramsey's tenure. How did Ramsey react to the rapid hollowing-out of the regular constituency of the church whilst at the same time seeing sweeping changes in the manner in which the church tried to minister to those members? What was his role in the widening of the church's global vision, and the growing porousness of its borders with other denominations? And how did the nature of the role of archbishop as figurehead change in this period?

Written with passion and understanding, Jail Bird explores how it is possible to reach out to those vilified in the press and by society at large, and to work for the good of all, recognising the humanity in those who commit crimes. Sharon Grenham-Thompson is an Anglican minister and former prison chaplain at Bedford Jail in the UK, where she was responsible for running a large multi-faith team. Jailbird explores her motivation to help those who are the least in society. "Totally gripping and extremely personal, this fluid biography comes gushing down the mountain like a raging floodwater. I literally couldn't put it down. In fact I read the whole thing in one session." Chris Evans - BBC Radio 2 Presenter

It is hard to comprehend the last 500 years of England's history without understanding the Church of England. From its roots in Catholicism through to the present day, this is the extraordinary history of a familiar but much-misunderstood institution. The Church has frequently been divided between high and low, Evangelical and Anglo-Catholic. For its first 150 years people sacrificed their lives to defend it; the Anglican Church is and has always been defined by its complicated relationship to the state and power. As Jeremy Morris shows, the story of the Church - central to British life - has never been straightforward. Weaving social, political and religious context together with the significance of its music and architecture, A People's Church skilfully illuminates a complex and pre-eminent institution.

This biography is an account of the intellectual development of the early Victorian Romantic preacher Frederick William Robertson, a devotee of Dante, Goethe, Byron, Shelley, Coleridge, Wordsworth and Carlyle, and an admirer of German theology. His receptiveness to the School of Schleiermacher, along with his natural ability of popularizing the doctrines of liberal theology, contributed to the success of Robertson's sermons and posthumously published writings. His work helped to validate the reasonableness of Christian belief and the validity of spiritual experience and feelings for his contemporaries. The elopement of Robertson's mother, the odd circumstances surrounding his own marriage, and his own extra-marital affair are some of the key details uncovered here. In this book Christina Beardsley outlines the leading ideas of the priest's theology and preaching as well as of his extraordinary thinking with regard to gender. Gender is in fact one of the recurring themes in this biography. Robertson's way of perceiving femininity and experiencing his own masculinity reflects the Victorian gender debate and the Romantic preoccupation with the reconciliation of opposites. A captivating reconstruction of puzzling episodes of Robertson's life where the author explores the gendered aspects of his thought and places new emphasis on his Romantic sensibility. This book would appeal to students of Victorian religion and culture; XIX century biographies; the faith/reason, doubt/belief and science/religion debates; German influence on English theology; aesthetics and theology; the history of English liberal theology; gender and culture.

This book seeks to bring coherence to two of the most studied periods in British history, Caroline non-conformity (pre-1640) and the British revolution (post-1642). It does so by focusing on the pivotal years of 1638-44 where debates around non-conformity within the Church of England morphed into a revolution between Parliament and its king. Parliament, saddled with the responsibility of re-defining England's church, called its Westminster assembly of divines to debate and define the content and boundaries of that new church. Typically this period has been studied as either an ecclesiastical power struggle between Presbyterians and independents, or as the harbinger of modern religious toleration. This book challenges those assumptions and provides an entirely new framework for understanding one of the most important moments in British history. -- .

The Wesleys and the Anglican Mission to Georgia examines the experiences of five Anglican minister/missionaries who came to Georgia between 1735 and 1738, including John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield, on a mission to minister to residents and spread Christianity to the Native Americans. The author argues that personal relationships rather than institutional structures or cultural dynamics largely directed the forming, the dispatch, the unfolding, and eventually the collapse of this the largest minister/missionary effort in early Georgia. In addition to the missioners' relationships among themselves, their interactions with leading Trustees like James Oglethorpe and the Earl of Egmont, with Native Americans, with officials in the colony, with German religious groups in the colony like the Moravians and the Salzburgers, and with individual settlers-some of whom they clashed with and others of whom at least one of them fell in love with-shaped the Mission at every turn. The author also demonstrates how the missioners used Biblical literature to frame and explain their experiences to themselves and others. The Mission involved three of the most important religious figures of the 18th century Atlantic world whose names continue to resonate in the early 21st century. The book tells the story of their lives in Georgia just before they achieved transatlantic fame.

This focused concentration and celebration of Anglican life could not be more timely. Debates on sexuality and gender (including women bishops), whether or not the church has a Covenant, or can be a Communion, and how it is ultimately led, are issues that have dominated the ecclesial horizon for several decades. No book on Anglicanism can ever claim to have all the answers to all the questions. However, Martyn Percy's work does offer significant new insights and illumination - highlighting just how rich and reflexive the Anglican tradition can be in living and proclaiming the gospel of Christ. These essays provide some sharply-focused snapshots of contemporary Anglicanism, and cover many of the crucial issues affecting Anglicans today, such as the nature of mission and ministry, theological training and formation, and ecclesial identity and leadership. Church culture is often prey to contemporary fads and fashion. Percy's work calls Anglicanism to deeper discipleship; to attend to its roots, identity and shape; and to inhabit the world with a faith rooted in commitment, confidence and Christ.

With 360+ pairs of questions and answers, as well as Scripture references to support each teaching, this catechism instructs new believers and church members in the core beliefs of Christianity from an Anglican perspective.

After decades of neglect there has been a resurgence of interest in the history of the Church of England in 'the long eighteenth century'. This volume of essays brings together the fruits of some of this research. Most of the essays have been written, not by traditional ecclesiastical historians, but by political, social and cultural historians, a fact which reflects the diversity of approaches to the study of the Church of England in the eighteenth century. As a whole, the volume demonstrates that religion and the Church can no longer be regarded as a discrete subject in the history of eighteenth-century England, but are central to a full understanding of its life and thought.

Contrary to its popular image as dull and stodgy, the Victorian period was one of revolutionary change. In its politics, its art, its economic aff airs, its class relationships, and in its religion, change was constant. A half-century after Queen Victoria's death, it was said that she was born in one world and died in another. Th e most interesting and valuable studies of the period take the long view, as does Schlossberg, in his fascinating analysis of religious life in this period.

For the Victorians, religion was not cordoned off from the push and shove of real life. Th e early evangelicals got off to a shaky start, beset by hostility, but the movement spread within the churches despite the suspicion in which it was held. Evangelicals, frequently called Puritans by those who opposed them, called for fundamental reforms in both the Church and the society; a social ethic was part of their program of religious renewal. Th eir moral sense explains the social activism of both Church of England Evangelicals and Dissenters, including the half-century crusade for the abolition of slavery.

Schlossberg shows how religion in England dealt with such issues as science and the eff ect of German scholarship on religious thinking. Church history cannot simply be explained by its response to external forces as much as by the internal responses to those challenges. Th e nature of the religious enterprise itself, its theologians, clergy, lay people--like all people and all institutions--all responded with alternatives. Schlossberg helps us understand the Victorian period, as well as the increasing secularity of English life today.

Bringing together researchers in modern British religious, political, intellectual and social history, this volume considers the persistence of the Church's public significance, despite its falling membership. During the twentieth century, the relationship between the Church of England and the British state was transformed. The character and dynamics of the connections shifted as politics became more democratic and society more secular,as the role of the Crown and parliament in Church government was curtailed, and as the Christian foundations of secular law were weakened. Yet the increasing formal separation of Church and state was not accompanied by ecclesiastical disengagement from politics and government. Despite its falling membership, the Church of England continued - and continues - to wield influence on political life in Britain. This volume of essays brings together researchers in modern British religious, political, intellectual and social history to consider the persistence of the Church's public significance. The introduction reviews the developing literature on the relationships between the Church, the state and politics from 1900 to recent times. The essays which follow consider aspects of these complex intersections: in parliament, party politics and the parish; on the nature of the Church establishment and conceptions of national identity; in religious and sexual education; on colonial and foreign policies; on race and the multi-faith society. In these various ways, the volume shows that pronouncements on a modern demise of ecclesiastical influence in political life have been premature.

The Church of England and the First World War (first published in 1978) explores in depth the role of the church during the tragic circumstances of the First World War using biographies, newspapers, magazines, letters, poetry and other sources in a balanced evaluation. The myth that the war was fought by 'lions led by donkeys' powerfully endures turning heroes into victims. Alan Wilkinson demonstrates the sheer horror, moral ambiguity, and the interaction between religion, the church and war with a scholarly, and yet poetic, hand. The author creates a vivid image of the church and society, includes views of the Free Churches and Roman Catholics, portrays the pastoral problems and challenges to faith presented by war, and the pressures for reform of church and society. The Church of England and the First World War is written with compelling compassion and great historical understanding, making the book hard to put down. This expert and classic study will grip the religious and secular alike, the general reader or the student.

Though he never attained the highest office in the Church of England, Samuel Horsley was the ablest bishop on the bench in the late eighteenth century. He was a scientist, parliamentarian, and man of letters, as well as a leading theologian and diocesan administrator. While his forthright opposition to popular politics at the time of the French Revolution earned him the label 'Grand Mufti', his social outlook found a distinct place for the benevolence of the age. F. C. Mather's scholarly and perceptive biography provides a portrait of Horsley and the Church of England in an age of intellectual, social, and political revolution. Professor Mather establishes Horsley as a high churchman, who bridged the gap between the Anglican Toryism of Atterbury and Sacheverell and the apostolic vision of the Tractarians. High Court Prophet challenges belief in the predominance of latitudinarianism in the eighteenth-century church, and throws new light on the workings of church-state relations.

Thirty-five of John Stott's friends open their hearts and share significant memories of a unique man, mentor, speaker and author, creating a vivid gallery of very personal portraits from around the globe. From 'Wumby Dumby', the special uncle and godfather, to the Revd Dr John Stott, international Christian statesman, this tribute contains a rich bank of memories, representing a key period in twentieth-century British evangelicalism. The human John Stott is very much in evidence also, for example in stories from the author's bird-watching exploits and relaxed holidays at his beloved Welsh home. Many brush strokes, one portrait, this presents a compelling and multi-faceted image of a fascinating Christian leader. [Contains coloured art sections x 2 with a unique collection of photos, both formal and informal.]

This book addresses controversial issues in contemporary church life using liturgical commentary, homiletical illustration, and theological reflection. Issues examined include: gender and sexuality, relation of lay and ordained ministries, the relation of biblical Israel and the modern state, the differences between the Hebrew Scriptures and the Old Testament, the need for careful expository preaching, and deference to tradition as well as openness to new ways. The focus here is on the Episcopal Church in America, yet the examples and pleadings have relevance to the wider Christian community.

John Henry Newman (1801-1890) has always inspired devotion. Newman has made disciples as leader of the Catholic revival in the Church of England, an inspiration to fellow converts to Roman Catholicism, a nationally admired preacher and prose-writer, and an internationally recognized saint of the Catholic Church. Nevertheless, he has also provoked criticism. The church authorities, both Anglican and Catholic, were often troubled by his words and deeds, and scholars have disputed his arguments and his honesty. Written by a range of international experts, The Oxford Handbook of John Henry Newman shows how Newman remains important to the fields of education, history, literature, philosophy, and theology. Divided into four parts, part one grounds Newman's works in the places, cultures, and networks of relationships in which he lived. Part two looks at the thinkers who shaped his own thought, while the third part engages critically and appreciatively with themes in his writings. Part four examines how those themes have shaped conversations in the churches and the academy. This Handbook will serve as an important resource to critical and appreciative exploration of the person, writings, controversies, and legacy of Newman.

John Jewel (1522-1571) has long been regarded as one of the key figures in the shaping of the Anglican Church. A Marian exile, he returned to England upon the accession of Elizabeth I, and was appointed bishop of Salisbury in 1560 and wrote his famous Apologia Ecclesiae Anglicanae two years later. The most recent monographs on Jewel, now over forty years old, focus largely on his theology, casting him as deft scholar, adept humanist, precursor to Hooker, arbiter of Anglican identity and seminal mind in the formation of Anglicanism. Yet in light of modern research it is clear that much of this does not stand up to closer examination. In this work, Gary Jenkins argues that, far from serving as the constructor of a positive Anglican identity, Jewel's real contribution pertains to the genesis of its divided and schizophrenic nature. Drawing on a variety of sources and scholarship, he paints a picture not of a theologian and humanist, but an orator and rhetorician, who persistently breached the rules of logic and the canons of Renaissance humanism in an effort to claim polemical victory over his traditionalist opponents such as Thomas Harding. By taking such an iconoclastic approach to Jewel, this work not only offers a radical reinterpretation of the man, but of the Church he did so much to shape. It provides a vivid insight into the intent and ends of Jewel with respect to what he saw the Church of England under the Elizabethan settlement to be, as well as into the unintended consequences of his work. In so doing, it demonstrates how he used his Patristic sources, often uncritically and faultily, as foils against his theological interlocutors, and without the least intention of creating a coherent theological system.

Top voices highlight important changes in the role of bishop. Compelling essays, written by bishops, other clergy, and academics from across the Episcopal Church, reflect the breadth of thinking on the history, current state, and future of the role of leadership within the denomination and the wider Anglican Communion. Topics include the transformation of the role over the last fifty years, a review of historic documents on the episcopacy, issues of race and gender, and the definition of ministry and leadership. This volume will be of interest to leaders across denominations as well as scholars.

While the murder of his wife devastated Anthony Thompson, he and three other relatives of victims chose to privately and publicly forgive the shooter. Years later, the church and community still struggle to understand the family members' deliberate choice to forgive the racist murderer. But as Charlestonians have witnessed these incredible acts of forgiveness, something significant has happened to the community--black and white leaders and residents have united, coming together peaceably and even showing acts of selfless love. This book is the account of Anthony's wife's murder, the grief he experienced, and how and why he made the radical choice to forgive the killer. But beyond that, Anthony goes on to teach what forgiveness can and should look like in each of our lives--both personally, in our communities, and even in our nation. After much pain, reflection, and study, Thompson shares how true biblical love and mercy differ from the way these ideas are reflected in our culture. Be inspired by this remarkable story and discover how the difficult decision to forgive can become the key to radical change.