Steering Through the Fire

And with the completion of another book comes another book review. Also dealing with Anglican history, yet in a different vein, Roger Steer's Guarding the Holy Fire: The Evangelicalism of John R.W. Stott, J.I. Packer, and Alister McGrath gives a lively account of the evangelical wing of the Anglican Communion.

Despite the title, the work is not centered upon the lives and teachings of Stott, Packer, and McGrath, but rather deals with the theological tradition that led to their continued influence. Steer's work begins by tracing the genesis of English Reformation action starting with John Wycliffe, through the Henrican/ Edwardian/Elizabethan expressions of the Reformation, a bruising run through the Caroline Divines and ending with the death of Richard Baxter. The story continues with the Wesleys, which gives a great deal of lively detail although it would have been nice to see more of how Arminianism made impact upon the Church of England in those days.

Steer devotes separate coverage to the development of Anglican/Episcopal activity in North America and England from 1730 to 1900. While the English church was marked by missionary endeavors and the zeal of people like J.C. Ryle, the American church found the going rough amongst the multi-denominationalism of the Revolutionary War days. I was especially warmed by the narrative of Devereux Jarratt and his faithful ministry amongst Anglicans in Virginia even in the face of intrusions and attacks by other denominations that would dominate the American frontier.

Honest displays of unity and fragmentation flood the remainder of Steer's work. The Nottingham Congress brought Anglican evangelicals together in 1977 but with little gas in the tank left for future endeavors. The divide between churchmen such as John Stott and D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones is covered with a fine balance between detached narrative and editorial opinion.

Another area of fragmentation is in the area of sexuality, even more so than women's ordination to holy orders. Steer--using primary documents of correspondence--shows the wheedling of progressives such as Bishop John Spong. Although no one's hands are fully clean, one can clearly see that Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, comes of smelling more like a rose than Bishop "Sponge".

Splashed within the book are interesting tidbits, as well. I never knew that J.I. Packer wrote Stott in 1952 about the possibility of becoming a curate at All Souls' Church in London. Stott politely yet firmly declined. I wonder what Packer's career would have been like if Stott said yes!

Steer gives a bracing yet authentic list of strengths and weaknesses of Anglican Evangelicals at the end of the book. The reader is left with a proper spirit of "Good job. There's work to be done. Let's get to it" for fellow evangelicals throughout the Anglican Communion. As one should have.