Bob Tennant presents a history of the missionary work, cultures, and rhetoric of the Church of England in 1760-1870, when it was the predominant organizer of Protestant overseas missions. Through close attention to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK, founded 1699), the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG, 1701), and the Church Missionary Society (CMS, 1799) Tennant offers a systematic exploration of the complex relationship between the Societies' policies, decision-making systems, and administration, as recorded in their unpublished minute books, and the rhetorical and theological activity of their sermon literature. Thus their 'corporate holiness' is shown to be a synthesis of theology, ministry, rhetoric, administration, and methods of building public support. In the process, Tennant also offers analyses of controversies within the Church of England about questions such as the relationship of Bible to liturgy, the nature and techniques of mass education, charitable behaviour, and the processes of decision-making. Supported by statistical evidence, he offers a revisionist account of the Church's relationship to the American Revolution, the Romantic movement, and the Indian 'Mutiny'. Besides offering a critical history of his subject, Tennant also suggests a methodology for approaching a general thesis of Christian missionary societies on their own terms, theoretically separable from and avoiding the distortions and imbalances which have been imposed by the secularist imperial historiography to which they have so often been subordinated.

The first in a six-volume series, Reformation Anglicanism seeks to be the go-to resource outlining the rich Reformation heritage undergirding Anglicanism, casting a clear vision for what it means to be an Anglican today.

The Oxford History of Anglicanism is a major new and unprecedented international study of the identity and historical influence of one of the world's largest versions of Christianity. This global study of Anglicanism from the sixteenth century looks at how was Anglican identity constructed and contested at various periods since the sixteenth century; and what was its historical influence during the past six centuries. It explores not just the ecclesiastical and theological aspects of global Anglicanism, but also the political, social, economic, and cultural influences of this form of Christianity that has been historically significant in western culture, and a burgeoning force in non-western societies today. The chapters are written by international exports in their various historical fields which includes the most recent research in their areas, as well as original research. The series forms an invaluable reference for both scholars and interested non-specialists. Volume three of The Oxford History of Anglicanism explores the nineteenth century when Anglicanism developed into a world-wide Christian communion, largely, but not solely, due to the expansion of the British Empire. By the end of this period an Anglican Communion had come into existence as a diverse conglomerate of often competing Anglican identities with their often unresolved tensions and contradictions, but also with some measure of genuine unity. The volume examines the ways the various Anglican identities of the nineteenth century are both metropolitan and colonial constructs, and how they influenced the wider societies in which they formed Anglican Churches.

How far can religion play a part in the public sphere, or should it be only a private matter? Roger Trigg examines this question in the context of today's pluralist societies, where many different beliefs clamour for attention. Should we celebrate diversity, or are matters of truth at stake? In particular, can we maintain our love of freedom, while cutting it off from religious roots? In societies in which there are many conflicting beliefs, the place of religion is a growing political issue. Should all religions be equally welcomed in the public square? Favouring one religion over others may appear to be a failure to treat all citizens equally, yet for citizens in many countries their Christian heritage is woven into their way of life. Whether it is the issue of same-sex marriages, the right of French schoolgirls to wear Islamic headscarves, or just the public display of Christmas trees, all societies have to work out a consistent approach to the public influence of religion.

What is Anglicanism? How is it different from other forms of Christianity, and how did it come to have so many different versions throughout the world? Although originally united by location and a common belief, Anglicanism has gradually lost its pre-eminence as the English state church due to increasing pluralisation and secularisation. While there are distinctive themes and emphases which emerge from its early history and theology, there is little sense of unity in Anglicanism today. In Anglicanism: A Very Short Introduction, Mark Chapman highlights the diversity of contemporary Anglicanism by exploring its fascinating history, theology, and structures. Putting the history and development of the religion into context, Chapman reveals what it is that holds Anglicanism together despite the recent crises that threaten to tear it apart. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

The Oxford History of Anglicanism provides a global study of Anglicanism from the sixteenth century to the twenty-first. The five volumes in the series look at how Anglican identity was constructed and contested since the English Reformation of the sixteenth century, and examine its historical influence during the past six centuries. They consider not only the ecclesiastical and theological aspects of global Anglicanism, but also the political, social, economic, and cultural influences of this form of Christianity that has been historically significant in Western culture, and a burgeoning force in non-Western societies since the nineteenth century. Written by international experts in their various historical fields, each volumes analyses the varieties of Anglicanism that have emerged. The series also highlights the formal, political, institutional, and ecclesiastical forces that have shaped a global Anglicanism; and the interaction of Anglicanism with informal and external influences which have both moulded Anglicanism and been fashioned by it. Volume five of The Oxford History of Anglicanism considers the global experience of the Church of England in mission and in the transitions of its mission Churches towards autonomy in the twentieth century. The Church developed institutionally, yet more than the institutional history of the Church of England and its spheres of influence is probed. The contributors focus on what it has meant to be Anglican in diverse contexts. What spread from England was not simply a religious institution but the religious tradition it intended to implant. The volume addresses questions of the conduct of mission, its intended and unintended consequences. It offers important insights on what decolonization meant for Anglicans as the mission Church in various global locations became self-reliant. This study breaks new ground in describing the emergence of an Anglicanism shaped more contextually than externally. It illustrates how Anglicanism became enculturated across a broad swath of cultural contexts. The influence of context, and the challenge of adaption to it, framed Anglicanism's twentieth-century experience.

John Henry Newman (1801-90) was brought up in the Church of England in the Evangelical tradition. An Oxford graduate and Fellow of Oriel College, he was appointed Vicar of St Mary's Oxford in 1828; from 1839 onwards he began to have doubts about the claims of the Anglican Church and in 1845 he was received into the Roman Catholic Church. He was made a Cardinal in 1879. His influence on both the restoration of Roman Catholicism in England and the advance of Catholic ideas in the Church of England was profound. Volume VIII covers a turbulent period in Newman's life with the publication of Tract 90. His attempt to show the compatibility of the 39 Articles with Catholic doctrine caused a storm both in the University of Oxford and in the Church. He and others were horrified by the establishment of a joint Anglo-Prussian Bishopric in Jerusalem, considering it an attempt to give Apostolical succession to an heretical church. In 1842 he moved away from the hubbub of Oxford life to nearby Littlemore.

This book, which is global in scope and will be of interest throughout the world, makes available for the first time a comparative study of the Constitutions, Canons, and other forms of law of the Churches in the worldwide Anglican Communion. Doe's analysis draws out the similarities and differences between them and proposes that global principles of Anglican canon law apply to all Churches in the Communion. This thorough and practical description of a hitherto under-explored subject is placed squarely within its jurisprudential and theological context and will be welcomed by both practitioners and scholars.

The Anglican conflict over homosexuality has drawn worldwide interest and divided the church. However, conflict within Christianity is not new. This book traces the steps by which the crisis emerged, and reveals the deeper debates within the church which underlie both the current controversy and much earlier splits. William L. Sachs contends that the present debate did not begin with opposition to homosexuality or in advocacy of it. He argues that, like past tensions, it originates in the diverging local contexts in which the faith is practised, and their differing interpretations of authority and communion. In the aftermath of colonialism, activists and reformers have taken on prominent roles for and against the status quo. The crisis reveals a Church in search of a new, global consensus about the appropriate forms of belief and mission.

The Oxford Movement transformed the nineteenth-century Church of England with a renewed conception of itself as a spiritual body. Initiated in the early 1830s by members of the University of Oxford, it was a response to threats to the established Church posed by British Dissenters, Irish Catholics, Whig and Radical politicians, and the predominant evangelical ethos - what Newman called 'the religion of the day'. The Tractarians believed they were not simply addressing difficulties within their national Church, but recovering universal principles of the Christian faith. To what extent were their beliefs and ideals communicated globally? Was missionary activity the product of the movement's distinctive principles? Did their understanding of the Church promote, or inhibit, closer relations among the churches of the global Anglican Communion? This volume addresses these questions and more with a series of case studies involving Europe and the English-speaking world during the first century of the Movement.

Amidst a world of seemingly endless movement and change many of us feel a longing to be rooted. It is this instinct that has led many to value the parish system, and to question the place of new churches, be they fresh expressions or church plants. This book is about the instinct to form churches that are of and for a particular place, and what this might mean in a world where place is contested, interconnected, and ever-changing. Above all it is an attempt to move the conversation beyond the binary choices of parish or non, new or inherited. It offers a powerful and persuasive vision for a Church that is national only by being local; a vision that can only be realised as churches continually become present to their places.

This is a study of the 66 bishops of James I. Kenneth Fincham surveys the range of their activities and functions, including their part in central politics, their role in local society, their work as diocesan governors enforcing moral and spiritual discipline and their supervision of the parish clergy. Dr Fincham argues that the accession of James I marked the restoration of episcopal fortunes at court and in the localities, seen most clearly in the revival of the court prelate. The Jacobean episcopate as a group were active pastors, working under the watchful eye of an informed supreme governor. During these years, the image of the bishop as preaching pastor won widespread acceptance and evangelical churchmanship flourished, to be challenged in the second half of the reign by Arminian prelates. Dr Fincham's analysis of the early 17th-century episcopate, grounded in contemporary sources, reveals much about the church of James I, the doctrinal divisions of the period and the origins of Laudian government in the 1630s. "Prelate as Pastor" offers a new perspective on the controversies of early Stuart religious history.

The Anglican conflict over homosexuality has drawn worldwide interest and divided the church. However, conflict within Christianity is not new. This book traces the steps by which the crisis emerged, and reveals the deeper debates within the church which underlie both the current controversy and much earlier splits. William L. Sachs contends that the present debate did not begin with opposition to homosexuality or in advocacy of it. He argues that, like past tensions, it originates in the diverging local contexts in which the faith is practiced, and their differing interpretations of authority and communion. In the aftermath of colonialism, activists and reformers have taken on prominent roles for and against the status quo. The crisis reveals a Church in search of a new, global consensus about the appropriate forms of belief and mission.

Between 1700 and 1850 the Church of England was the among the most powerful and influential religious, social, and political forces in Britain. This was also a momentous time for the British Empire, during which it developed and then lost the North American colonies, extended into India, and settled the colonies of Australia and New Zealand. Public understanding of this expanding empire was influentially created and promulgated by the Church of England as a consequence of its missionary engagement with these colonies, and its role in providing churches for British settlers. Rowan Strong examines how that Anglican Christian understanding of the British Empire shaped the identities both of the people living in British colonies in North America, Bengal, Australia, and New Zealand during this period - including colonists, indigenous peoples, and Negro slaves - and of the English in Britain.