Quite the Standard

There are some books out of an entire corpus that absolutely have to be read, just as there are some songs by different groups that must be identified.

If you have read any Pat Conroy, for example, it is imperative that you read The Great Santini. If you like Kansas, Dust In The Wind is a must-listen.

What about if you are exploring the history of a religion? Well, if the franchise is the Anglican tradition, then there must be essential space on your bookshelf for Stephen Neill's Anglicanism and time in your schedule to digest it.

Neill served as a bishop in the Church of England and spent a great deal of time as a missionary and traveling evangelist in south India before teaching in Germany and Kenya. His sense of the worldwide nature of the Anglican Communion and his experience ministering on many different shores gives scope and strength to his work.

Neill lands roughly in the Broad churchmanship territory as he works through the details of the past with solid historiography. He notes that from the beginning, there was a fierce independence in the British Isles to any interference from the Roman church. Thus, when Henry VIII refused to accept Pope Clement VII's annulment denial, it was not a sudden eruption but a link in a chain of many coltish attempts to throw off Rome's influence.

Neill's coverage of the Reformation, particularly the work of Cranmer, Hooker, and the Elizabethan via media, is impeccable. Notably, Neill turns a considerable amount of criticism toward Archbishop William Laud, not so much for theological error as for strategic stupidity.

The expansion of Anglicanism to different nations unfolds clearly from Neill's pen. He covers the work of missionaries for gospel impact, then goes back through the lineup to demonstrate the increasing difficulties of organization and episcopacy in relation to Canterbury. Missionary efforts could be costly and inefficient, and the work of the Anglican church could be charitably called "leading from behind" in certain areas. Neill is not shy about showing why he thinks other outposts of the Communion work in error. His criticism of the Episcopal Church in the United States for having a Presiding Bishop with no see is one such example.

In the end, Neill admits the Anglican Communion is an amalgam of strengths and weaknesses. Any organization of millions of people will exhibit these particulars, to be fair.

It is difficult to put forth a comprehensive history of one's faith community, especially when it covers the entire globe and a heritage of hundreds of years, while being appreciative of its strengths and facing its problems. But Neill does so admirably. Anglicanism is not a quick read; one must plow through it deliberately. Still, since it is the key declaration from the vocal cords of Broad churchmanship, it is a necessary volume for an understanding of how the Anglican faith makes impact even today.