The Vocation of Anglicanism

Paul Avis charts a pathway of theological integrity through the serious challenges facing the Anglican Communion in the first quarter of the 21st century. He asks whether there is a special calling for Anglicanism as an expression of the Christian Church and expounds the Anglican theological tradition to shed light on current controversies. He argues in conclusion that Anglicanism is called, like all the churches, to reflect the nature of the Church that we confess in the Creed to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic.

The book provides a clear view of the way that the Anglican tradition holds together aspects of the church that in other traditions are sometimes allowed to drift apart, as the Anglican understanding of the Church reveals itself to be catholic and reformed, episcopal and synodical, universal and local, biblical and reasonable, traditional and open to fresh insight. Avis combines accessible scholarly analysis with constructive arguments that will bring fresh hope and vision to Anglicans around the world.

"This is a hopeful and generous book, looking for “the Church” and its notes of unity, holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity wherever they may be found. … The essays collected here are excellent testimony to [Avis’s] attentiveness to other voices, historical and contemporary." - Theological Studies

“After finishing this book, I find it is harder to have patience with some of the facile definitions of Anglicanism. I do not mean it is difficult to have patience with criticisms … [b]ut it is difficult to put up with shallow critiques when Avis’s pages linger in one’s memory.” - The Living Church