Authority and Anglicanism - Stephen Ross White

Over recent years there has increasingly been a crisis of confidence and identity within Anglicanism. Certainly within particular provinces like the Church of England, identity has been eroded by a number of historical, structural, critical and moral factors. It has also coincided with a period of declining membership and a number of particularly heated debates about issues of church order. Anglicanism seems to have brought many of the problems it faces on itself by running away from the ultimate issue of Anglican identity and ecclesiology, and this is the fundamental concern of this important new book. All too often, Stephen White argues, when faced with these problems the church opts for one of two extreme responses. The first is to seek to cut itself off from the world and construct a small enclave of holiness without much regard for what is going on around it. Alternatively, it stands in the marketplace and denounces the world and its standards, proclaiming that the lifebelt of faith offers the only hope of salvation. Neither of these will do. For those who are looking for something else, this book affirms the belief that Anglicanism can and must reassert its identity, and that it has a potentially valuable role to play in the shaping of today's society and world through its special capacity to combine moderation and a modified approach to authority.