Conversations On The Thirty Nine Articles Of The Church Of England

The Thirty-Nine Articles, together with the Book of Common Prayer, form the foundation of Anglican theology. Yet there are very few extended treatments of them. Oliver O'Donovan relates the Articles to the exhilarating and troubled century in which they took shape. He also shows how the distinctive insights and values of a past age relate to the demands of today's world. 'What I propose in this case - is not to talk solely about the Articles, but to talk about God, mankind (sic!), and redemption, the central matters of the Christian faith, and to take the Tudor authors with me as companions in discussion. Two voices will be speaking - each raising the questions that Christian faith in his time forces upon him.' Here is a new edition of his book on one of the key texts of Anglican identity by one of the UK's leading theologians. The book has been out of print for some time and there have been repeated calls for a new edition with a new introduction which engages with more recent developments and offers the text to a new generation.

The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion of the Church of England. Are they a dusty relic of the sixteenth century, with little to say to Anglican Christians in this brave new world of the twenty-first century? Or do they form a statement that is ideally suited to strengthen and unify them in their faith? Robert Langmaid argues that the latter is the case. He believes that the articles, which were written by English Reformers in 1533 and put in their current revised form in 1662, provide fertile ground for the growth of churches and believers in the Communion. Furthermore, he writes, the articles not only can inform individual and corporate discussions concerning Anglican identity, but can also serve as a basis of spiritual meditation. How is it that the articles can do all this? Because the Reformers and the English church were careful to ground them securely in the Bible and in the first four general councils of the Christian church and the three ecumenical statements of belief (the Nicene, Apostles', and Athanasian creeds). In fact, Langmaid argues, a new consideration of the articles will call Anglicans to renew their historical allegiance to the Bible and the Lordship of Christ and thereby provide the backdrop for greater and more effective diversity throughout the Anglican Communion. Besides taking the reader through forty days of meditating on the articles, this valuable contribution to Anglican and ecumenical thought includes two essays on the Articles of Religion and Anglican identity and a version of the articles in modern English by Peter Toon.

Fifteen prominent Anglicans speak up for their church at a time when internal strife threatens to break it apart. >