Anglican Evangelicals

Why do so many evangelicals flock to liturgical traditions today? Robert Webber first explored the question in this thoughtful and engaging classic in 1989; now evangelical scholar and pastor Lester Ruth updates the conversation. Much remains of Webber s beloved original text, including his discussion of Anglicanism s six great gifts: mystery and awe, Christ-centered worship, sacramental reality, historical identity, participation in catholic traditions and holistic spirituality. Ruth adds fresh stories from evangelicals who have followed Webber's footsteps on the Canterbury trail, along with new essays that highlight the diversity of Anglican expressions today.

This study examines, within a chronological framework, the major themes and personalities which influenced the outbreak of a number of Evangelical clerical and lay secessions from the Church of England and Ireland during the first half of the nineteenth century. Though the number of secessions was relatively small-between a hundred and two hundred of the 'Gospel clergy' abandoned the Church during this period-their influence was considerable, especially in highlighting in embarrassing fashion the tensions between the evangelical conversionist imperative and the principles of a national religious establishment. Moreover, through much of this period there remained, just beneath the surface, the potential threat of a large Evangelical disruption similar to that which occurred in Scotland in 1843. Consequently, these secessions provoked great consternation within the Church and within Evangelicalism itself, they contributed to the outbreak of millennia! Speculation following the 'constitutional revolution' of 1828-32, they led to the formation of several new denominations, and they sparked off a major Church-State crisis over the legal right of a clergyman to secede and begin a new ministry within Protestant Dissent.

At a time when Anglicans and Evangelicals seem to be increasingly polarized rather than part of the same tradition, an Evangelical Anglican takes a fresh look at the historical and contemporary expressions of each to assess their distinctive standpoints, to show how much common ground they share and to examine what this means for the church today. Practicing Anglicans who consider themselves on one or the other side of the debate, as well as those who would ally themselves with both traditions, will welcome this new appraisal with its insight into meeting points and mutual goals. This is a vital contribution for all who are concerned to arrest the perception, whatever the reality, of the Anglican church's inexorable decline.

John McIntosh attempts to describe more accurately and completely the spectrum of Evangelicalism (Anglican) that three successive principals of Moore Theological College appropriated and taught in the period. Each was an outstanding graduate of Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin, respectively. The study traces the circumstances of their appointment and seeks to define the convictions they held—against the background of challenges and changes to their Christian faith they faced in their day. A close examination of their published and unpublished literary oeuvre clears away misunderstandings and even misrepresentations of their thought and influence. In so doing it explains how it was that those Evangelicals in the diocese who adhered more closely to their Reformation tradition finally prevailed decisively over those who were Protestant but liberal.

To achieve this Richard Vaudry traces the migration of both English and Irish Protestants and examines the careers of various prominent Quebec Anglicans, including Jacob, Eliza, and George Mountain, Jasper Hume Nicolls, Henry Roe, Jonathan and Edmund Willoughby Sewell, and finally Jeffrey Hale - families with impeccable imperial credentials. By stressing the importance of an imperial, transatlantic culture, Vaudry offers a fresh and innovative look at the history of the Anglican church in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Quebec.

This book is the first systematic attempt to describe a coherent and comprehensive Anglican understanding of Church. Rather than focusing on one school of thought, Dr. Locke unites under one ecclesiological umbrella the seemingly disparate views that have shaped Anglican reflections on Church. He does so by exploring three central historical developments: (1) the influence of Protestantism, (2) the Anglican defence of episcopacy, and (3) the development of the Anglican practice of authority. Dr. Locke demonstrates how the interaction of these three historical influences laid the foundations of an Anglican understanding of Church that continues to guide and shape Anglican identity; he shows how this understanding of Church has shaped recent Anglican ecumenical dialogues with Reformed, Lutheran, Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. Drawing on the principle that dialogue with those who are different can lead to greater self-understanding and self-realization, Dr. Locke demonstrates that Anglican self-identiy rests on firmer ecclesiological foundations than is sometimes supposed.

A collection of essays on the influence of evangelicalism within the Anglican Church. Written by evangelical thinkers, the book nevertheless aims to be open and honest about the weaknesses, as well as the strengths, of evanglicalism.

What does it mean to be an Anglican? An Evangelical? Can these two identities be held together with integrity? Thirty years ago, two influential Anglican thinkers addressed these questions in short and provocative Latimer Studies.