The integrative theme of this collection of essays is change and transformation explored in the context of diverse expressions within the context of Anglican Church history. It addresses some central themes--notably the sacraments, liturgy, biblical interpretation, theological education, the relationship of church and state, governance and authority, and Christian education.
The volume traces Anglican Church history chronologically. It includes a comparative study of penance in the thought of John Wyclif and Thomas Cranmer. The book also treats the dispersal of authority evident in the development of the Book of Common Prayer and the King James Bible, consensus in eucharistic theology in the seventeenth century, and developments in biblical interpretation in the early eighteenth century. This book also discusses a vision for the Christian education of children, change in theological education in the 1830s, the metanarrative of continuity developed by High Church historians in the late nineteenth century, increasing self-government in the Church at the outset of the twentieth century, and models of governance at the outset of the twenty-first.
While this collection highlights aspects of change and transformation as an integrative theme, it is not its premise that change was normative or pervasive, perpetual or constant, within Anglicanism. Nevertheless, these essays raise some new lines of inquiry, make some suggestive interpretations, or propose revision of accepted views.
