This is a work of considerable strategic importance for the ecumenical movement and for the Anglican Communion. It describes and interprets Anglican understanding of the Christian Church, from the Reformation to the present day.This book presents the development of Anglican identity and ecclesiology in its historical context, focusing particularly on Anglican engagement with the Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions. The book also provides substantial accounts of the major Anglican theologians, from Richard Hooker to modern writers.In this new and expanded edition, Paul Avis includes discussions of the influence of evangelical theology and reflects on the integrity of Anglicanism for the future.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Written with outstanding facility and is a pleasure to read ... a very important piece of work."
--Stephen Sykes
"An excellent study I recommend with enthusiasm."
--George Newlands
"Very good, clear, sound exposition, original ideas.
--Basil Hall
"We live in an age of bi-lateral conversations between Anglicanism and other Christian Churches. The 1988 Lambeth Conference affirmed those already established, and added to their number. It is a paradoxical truth of ecumenical experience to find that inter-church conversations have prompted many Anglicans to consider more deeply their own identity and traditions. This volume by Paul Avis will assist all those who do so. I welcome its appearance - a further sign that study of Anglican ecclesiology is firmly on our doctrinal agenda."
--Robert Runcie
"The main strength of the book is its relentless focus on the defining question of Anglican ecclesiology - episcopacy." --Modern Believing, July 2003.
"Readers who know the 1989 edition of this good book will welcome the author's through and expansive 2002 revision, not because the earlier one needed repair but because the revision provides even more insightful content. The intervening years have enriched the author's already thoughtful perspective…There is a great deal to commend in this excellent revision and reconsideration. I have made classroom use of the first edition since its publication and I will do the same with its successor." - William Seth Adams, The Anglican Theological Review
"There is a great deal to commend in this excellent revisiona nd reconsideration." -Anglican Theological Review (Anglican Theological Review )
--Stephen Sykes
"An excellent study I recommend with enthusiasm."
--George Newlands
"Very good, clear, sound exposition, original ideas.
--Basil Hall
"We live in an age of bi-lateral conversations between Anglicanism and other Christian Churches. The 1988 Lambeth Conference affirmed those already established, and added to their number. It is a paradoxical truth of ecumenical experience to find that inter-church conversations have prompted many Anglicans to consider more deeply their own identity and traditions. This volume by Paul Avis will assist all those who do so. I welcome its appearance - a further sign that study of Anglican ecclesiology is firmly on our doctrinal agenda."
--Robert Runcie
"The main strength of the book is its relentless focus on the defining question of Anglican ecclesiology - episcopacy." --Modern Believing, July 2003.
"Readers who know the 1989 edition of this good book will welcome the author's through and expansive 2002 revision, not because the earlier one needed repair but because the revision provides even more insightful content. The intervening years have enriched the author's already thoughtful perspective…There is a great deal to commend in this excellent revision and reconsideration. I have made classroom use of the first edition since its publication and I will do the same with its successor." - William Seth Adams, The Anglican Theological Review
"There is a great deal to commend in this excellent revisiona nd reconsideration." -Anglican Theological Review (Anglican Theological Review )
'substantively reorganized and supplemented...few would gainsay the verve and clarity that characterize the author's re-presentation of his imaginative construal of Anglicanism. Part 3 as it now stand is clearly more tendenious - and compelling.'
Journal of Religion, Gregory Allen Robbins, University if Denver,
(Gregory Allen Ribbons Journal Of Religion )"This is by far the best available introduction to the work of the most formative figures of the Church of England" - Mark D. Chapman, Ripon College Cuddesdon
(Mark D Chapman, Ripon College Cuddesdon Expository Times )'substantively reorganized and supplemented...few would gainsay the verve and clarity that characterize the author's re-presentation of his imaginative construal of Anglicanism. Part 3 as it now stand is clearly more tendenious - and compelling.'
Journal of Religion, Gregory Allen Robbins, University if Denver,
(, Journal Of Religion )"This is by far the best available introduction to the work of the most formative figures of the Church of England" - Mark D. Chapman, Ripon College Cuddesdon
(, Expository Times )
About the Author
Paul Avis is the General Secretary of the Church of England's Council for Christian Unity and convening editor of the journal Ecclesiology.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Introduction to the History of Anglican Thought,
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This review is from: Anglicanism and the Christian Church: Theological Resources in Historical Perspective (Paperback)
This is the revised and updated 2002 version of the original 1989 one. Paul Avis is thorough in his presentation of Anglican thought and theology from the Reformation up to the present. Part One treats the sixteenth century and the formation of Anglican ecclesiology vis a vis Cranmer and Hooker. Part Two treats the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the likes of Lancelot Andrewes and William Laud and John Wesley and the Cambridge Platonists and the early Latitudinarians. Part Three treats the nineteenth and twentieth centuries vis a vis the High Church revival of the Oxford movement and the Low Church Evangelicals and the liberal Catholic tradition of F.D. Maurice and the shape of "modern" Anglican thought, theology and ecumenism. The book is packed with useful information about the main thinkers and thought of Anglicanism and is free of partisan bias so High, Low and Broad Church types will find it equally useful as a resource.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Historical Overview of the Anglican Understanding of the Church,
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This review is from: Anglicanism and the Christian Church: Theological Resources in Historical Perspective (Paperback)
Paul Avis is a first-rate and careful scholar, who happens to specialize in the study of Anglicanism. I was privileged to have him be my external examiner for my Ph.D. thesis from Lancaster University. My thesis was on the identity and future of Anglicanism, so I've read Avis' works carefully and with relish over the years.
"Anglicanism and the Christian Church" is the first work by Avis that I read years ago, and in some ways it's his most important work. While the book is a historical survey of Anglican thought and theology, it's important to grasp Avis' larger mission: to "present the theological resources of Anglican ecclesiology in historical perspective" so that he can "bring out very clearly the fact of a coherent Anglican position, or consensus, on the nature of the church." Avis' presentation is therefore chronological as the reader proceeds from Chapter 1 through Chapter 16 and theological within each chapter. I applaud the fact that Avis presents this survey of Anglican theology in its historical context because Anglican theology is not done in a vacuum or only by looking at certain texts (whether the Bible, the Church Fathers, or the 39 Articles) but also in the historical contexts of specific times and places. More specifically, Avis contributes to a discussion of Anglican identity by asking and answering the question, "Is there a distinct Anglican version of Christianity?" To answer this question, Avis turns to theology in its historical context and surveys the development of Anglican theology from the English Reformation to the 20th century. Here is the outline for Anglicanism and the Christian Church: Chapter 1 - The English Reformers and the Christian Church Chapter 2 - Architects of Anglican Ecclesiology - Hooker and Field Chapter 3 - An Anglican Consensus Chapter 4 - The Early Anglican Liberal Protestants Chapter 5 - The Early Anglican Liberal Catholics Chapter 6 - Exemplars of the High Church Tradition Chapter 7 - Methodism and Evangelicalism Chapter 8 - The Church in Danger Again Chapter 9 - The High Church Heritage Chapter 10 - The Reformation Under Attack Chapter 11 - Keble and Pusey: Retreat from the Reformation Chapter 12 - The Anglican Newman Chapter 13 - Defenders of the Reformation: The Nineteenth-Century Liberal Anglicans Chapter 14 - F.D. Maurice Chapter 15 - The Church and Salvation in Modern Anglican Theology Chapter 16 - Anglican Ecclesiology in the Late Twentieth Century: A Bibliographical Commentary Chapter 17 - Towards and Authentic Paradigm for Anglicanism Along the way, Avis gives the reader an excellent overview of Anglican theology and identity. He doesn't attempt to be comprehensive, but by selecting major representatives of Anglican thought from different historical eras, he does provide an excellent overview. In this revised and enlarged edition, Avis has actually rewritten his text, and not merely edited it lightly. In essence, this is a different book than the first edition, and both are valuable resources. In particular, Avis has brought the book up to date to discuss developments in the 20th century. Unfortunately, even this revised and enlarged edition doesn't begin to touch upon the different views of Anglican theology and of the church that have led to the current crisis in Anglican identity, including what has now become an open rift between relationship Anglican churches on a global basis. Also, I find Avis' proposal for understanding Anglicanism in terms of the "baptismal paradigm" to be insufficient. It does not guard sufficiently against the Anglican liberalism that is tearing Anglicanism apart, and it seems to allow for the kind of universalism and heterodoxy of belief that many in The Episcopal Church are pursuing, based on the fact that baptism makes us the beloved children of God regardless of what one believes about God or if one obeys His Word. This is not to say that his presentation is without value, however: it is thought-provoking in its relation to either the Erastian or apostolic paradigms he also presents. While Avis has added much good, new material to this revised edition, it's unfortunate that he jettisoned what, to me, was the best and most important chapter in the original edition: Chapter 1, in which he discusses issues concerning Anglican identity. The issue of Anglican identity is at the heart of the Anglican crisis of the 21st century, and so I appreciated that Avis started his original edition with the issue of identity. In that chapter, Avis correctly diagnosed some of the reasons for the Anglican identity crisis, such as the weakening of continuity with tradition (including the Prayer Book) and that the church has become relativized by the emergence of rival churches, secular belief systems, and profane ways of life. Now, unless you have the original edition, that excellent material is lost. In spite of these deficiencies, Avis' work is a wonderful resource for the student of Anglicanism.
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