Abstract
This book of 44 essays is premised on the idea that Anglican studies constitute a sub-discipline analogous to Islamic studies or Catholic studies. That has to be taken for granted though in fact we have a certain amount of straight history and sociology within a distinctly normative framework. The chief historical contributions come at the beginning with an essay by Bruce Kaye, ‘Anglicanism before the Reformation’, which is part of the justification of the Anglican idea, and an authoritative essay on the Reformation itself in Anglicanism by Alec Ryrie. Then we have a group of essays on the nature of mission and conciliarism by Paul Avis, Kevin Ward and Mark Chapman. The next section covers the Styles of Anglicanism: ‘Anglicanism and the Fathers’ (Andrew McGowan), ‘Prayer Book Use and Conformity’ (Paul Avis), ‘Prayer’ by Phyllis Tickle, canon law by Norman Doe, ‘Anglican Wisdom’ (Jenny Gaffin), ‘Anglican Spirituality’ (Ann Loades) and ‘Anglican Aesthetics’ (Kenneth Stephenson). With these preliminaries in place we have come to area studies that concentrate on contextualization in the imperial and post-colonial spheres. These cover the special conditions obtaining in the United States (Robert Bruce Mullin) and Australasia (Stephen Pickard), the remarkable expansion in West Africa (Victor Reginald Atta-Baffoe), the difficult situations in Sri Lanka (Marc Billimoria) and in Sudan (Andrew C. Wheeler), as well as Anglicanism in Hong Kong (Paul Kwong and Philip Wickeri) and, (elsewhere in the book), Maori Anglicanism (Jenny Te Paa-Daniel). All this relates to the social geography of Anglicanism as discussed by Daniel O'Connor.
One group of essays has a strong sociological content, notably Grace Davie on ‘Establishment’, Miranda Hassett on charismatic renewal, Paula Nesbitt on doctrine in relation to charisma and bureaucratization, Robin Gill on congregational life, Susannah Snyder on migration, notably Hispanics in the United States and Janet Trisk on ‘Authority, Theology and Power’. We now come to problem areas, some treated more analytically, some more normatively. These are Gerald West on the Bible, Thabo Makgoba on politics in South Africa, Kathryn Tanner on gender and Andrew Goddard on sexuality. Another set of problem areas concern ecumenism (Charlotte Methuen), ‘Race, Spirituality and Reconciliation’ (Michael Battle), Anglican relations with Islam (Michael Nazir-Ali) and ‘The Challenge of Other Religions’ (Clare Amos and Michael Ipgrave).
Neat categorizations simply do not work, so I conclude with essays that do not quite fit any category. They include Alister McGrath on ‘Anglicanism and Pan-Evangelicalism’, some wise reflections on ordination and formation by Martyn Percy, reflections on ‘Identities and Parties’ by Andrew Atherstone and Terry Brown on ‘Anglican Way or Ways?’. Two essays deal with hermeneutics: Katherine Grieb on the uses of scriptural reasoning and Micah Eun-Kyu Kim on biblical hermeneutics. Being comprehensive and inclusive means that categorizations can be played this way and that, but overall this is a volume important for anyone engaged with the ‘problematic’ of Anglicanism.