A former parish priest offers a provocative examination of the contemporary Church of England—an institution in crisis—in this controversial book.Dire Sunday services, shrinking congregations and financial meltdown are the realities of today's Church of England. In Last Rites, Michael Hampson, who worked as a parish priest for thirteen years, examines why this centuries-old institution is in such crisis. He describes a church divided between liberals and e...

Dire Sunday services, shrinking congregations and financial meltdown are the realities of the contemporary Church of England. In this controversial book, Michael Hampson, who worked as a parish priest for thirteen years, examines why the Church of England is in such crisis. He describes a church irreconcilably divided between liberals and evangelicals, shackled by tradition and with little resonance for the laity of modern Britain. He locates the roots of its demise in its history, from th...

Defying a modern Church that has a larger collection of invertebrates than the London Zoo, an eccentric, faithful priest reaches out to the world.   When bumbling traditionalist Fr. Ambrose is forced out of his parish by his trendy bishop, he continues his ministry as an itinerant in his old Ford Fiesta. He may have lost his marbles, but he hasn’t lost his faith, and he’s determined to save his oddball flock.   There’s Molly the Soc...

The addresses that Rowan Williams has given in Canterbury Cathedral for Christmas and Easter are small masterpieces of this kind. They constitute part of Rowan Williams' essential legacy to Christian believers.With a new introduction by Dr Williams, this is the first time these pieces have appeared in print. Perfect reading material for Lent or Advent.

After reading Man Visible and Invisible students have sometimes remarked that the list of qualities there given seems incomplete, and that nothing is said as to some others which are at least equally common , such for example as courage, dignity, cheerfulness, truthfulness, loyalty...

For many people the Bible is strange and unfamiliar territory, impossible to navigate without a certain kind of knowledge and skill. Roger Ferlo leads his readers through the practical difficulties of reading the Bible, offering advice that is true to the way Anglicans have read Scripture from the time of Tyndale and Cranmer.Ferlo explains why the Bible looks the way it does, the theology that lies behind the many different versions and translations, how to deal with the notes and ...

The twelve days of Christmas follow from December 25 until January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany, the traditional date when the Magi arrived to present gifts to infant Jesus. For many, the meaning of these days is lost. By Christmas night we are saturated with the holiday hype, overfed by music and food, and may already be disappointed that the presents received are not enough. The book is not a bah humbug about Christmas customs and presents. This is simply an invitation to go deeper than ...

For most people in England today, the church is simply the empty building at the end of theroad, visited for the first time, if at all, when dead. It offers its sacraments to a population that lives without rites of passage, and which regards the National Health Service rather than the National Church as its true spiritual guardian.In Our Church, Scruton argues that the Anglican Church is the forlorn trustee of an architectural and artistic inheritance that remains ...

In this newly revised and expanded edition of a contemporary classic, Edward Sellner mines the deep wisdom of many traditions-from Celtic to Minnesotan, from Joan of Arc to C.S. Lewis-and demonstrates how relationships of mentoring, rooted and grounded in the love of Christ, can forge fast friendship, heal wounds from the past, and bring about the Reign of God.Sellner speaks from firsthand knowledge and experience of mentoring-the practice of direction, counsel, and formation which...

John Bunyan (28 November 1628 31 August 1688) was an English Christian writer and preacher, famous for writing The Pilgrim's Progress. Though he was a Reformed Baptist, in the Church of England he is remembered with a Lesser Festival on 30 August, and on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on August 29. As his popularity and notoriety grew, Bunyan increasingly became a target for slander and libel; he was described as "a witch, a Jesuit, a highwayman" and was said to have m...

Where You Go, I Shall is a book that was born of experience and need. The authors, two of whom are widows and the third an Episcopal priest, were participants in a monthly support group for widows and discovered that many of the Bible's remarkable women-Mary, Ruth, Naomi, Abigail, Anna, Tamar, Judith, and some who are unnamed-are widows. In this book, they tell and reflect upon the biblical stories, offering background for greater understanding, and the two authors who are themsel...

In this volume of The New Church's Teaching Series, Stephen Holmgren introduces us to the world of Anglican ethics and moral theology. He focuses on questions all people of faith must ask: How will I keep my baptismal promises? How am I meant to live “after Easter?”In developing a distinctively Anglican approach to ethics, with its emphasis on holiness, sanctification, and the need for spiritual disciplines, Holmgren identifies clear axioms for Anglican moral theology and the ethos...