Description
Book SynopsisAnalyzes the tensions within the contemporary Anglican Communion, addresses the theological arguments and social forces involved, and explores the dynamics of religious conflict in a global era.
Trade Review“A fascinating read, regardless of your personal faith or politics.”
—Eric C. Miller Reading Religion
“The interviews and the authors’ wide knowledge of the literature on church conflict, globalisation, and related issues combine to produce a book that clearly lays out the roots of the discord within the Anglican Communion and challenges some tired explanations for the conflict.”
—Church Times
“Of the books on the state of the Anglican Communion in the last two decades, Brittain and McKinnon offer the best analysis to date, offering a lucid, coherent, and balanced presentation of the situation the Anglican Communion finds itself in.”
—James Tengatenga Anglican Theological Review
“As closely tied to national identities as the churches are themselves, the nature and fate of the Anglican Communion will be a continuing research area for some time: this book is recommended for students, scholars, and practitioners.”
—Abby Day Sociology of Religion
“This timely, lucid, and admirably balanced book should be required reading for all those who care about the Anglican Communion. The debate about same-sex relationships is correctly perceived as the presenting issue of deeper tensions, which are then explored from a variety of perspectives. I recommend it warmly.”
—Grace Davie,author of Religion in Britain: A Persistent Paradox
“Americans seeking to understand the conflict raging within the Episcopal Church will gain perspective from this valuable book. It’s not just a battle in the ‘culture war.’ Homosexuality is the ‘presenting symbol’ of broader struggles within a 500-year-old, increasingly transnational institution. Making use of sociological theory, religious history, and interviews with church leaders around the world, Brittain and McKinnon assess the fate of Anglicanism in the context of its current crisis.”
—R. Stephen Warner,author of A Church of Our Own: Disestablishment and Diversity in American Religion
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The Cultural Logic of Symbols and Anglican “Orthodoxy”
2. Globalization, Communication, and the Redistribution of Religious Authority
3. The Global South and the Communion: Africa as the New Anglican “Center of Gravity”
4. Local Disagreement in the Midst of a Global Dispute: The View from the Pews in the Diocese(s) of Pittsburgh
5. National Strictures, Global Structures, and the Ties That Bind
6. Authority, Practice, and Ecclesial Identity
7. Anglican Identity in the Twenty-First Century
Conclusion: The “End” of the Communion?
Notes
Bibliography
Index
