Summary
‘Anglican theology’ as a term may relate to a tradition of Christianity pertaining to the English and requiring attention to the reformations-era. Or it may refer to insights from the family of churches (including some united churches) more or less loosely related in a so-called ‘Communion’. Or it may invite patterns of theologising which find some inspiration in the ‘Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral’ bringing into some ‘balance’ the authority of scripture, classical creeds, gospel sacraments and a ‘locally adapted’ version of episcopal oversight.
Search Terms
- Anglican
- Anglican Communion
- Church of England
- English reformation
- episcopal
- Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral
- Book of Common Prayer
- comprehensiveness
Call Numbers
Anglicanism: KM to KM6
Anglicans in Australia: MW66 to MW66.9
English church history and Church of England: LS20 to LS91
Introductions
- The Anglican Tradition from a Postcolonial Perspective, by Kwok Pui-lan. New York: Seabury Press, 2023.
- A History of Global Anglicanism, by Kevin Ward. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2007.
- An Introduction to World Anglicanism, by Bruce Kaye. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008.
Reference Texts
- The Anglican Tradition: A Handbook of Sources, by Gillian Evans and Robert Wright (London: SPCK, 1991) is a sourcebook, though like many others in this field is strongly tilted towards English and colonial history rather than the wider Communion or its contemporary challenges.
- The Oxford Handbook of Anglican Studies, by Mark Chapman, Sathinathan Clarke and Martyn Percy (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2015) has 44 substantial chapters thematically arranged and with partial but serious attention to context.
Regional Contributions
- Anglicanism in Australia: A History, ed. by Bruce Kaye (Melbourne: Melbourne UP, 1998) is the major study of regional Anglicanism.
- Australian Anglicans and their Constitution, by John Davis (Melbourne: Acorn Press, 1993) provides invaluable background information to understanding the contemporary composition of the Anglican church in Australia.
- The Place of Anglicanism in Australia: Church, Society, Nation, by Brian Fletcher (Monash: Garrett Publishing, 2008) is more even-handed than other accounts of the tradition in its diversity.
Other Important Texts
- Anglican Women on Church and Mission, ed. by Kwok Pui-lan et al (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2012) foregrounds the contributions of women to contemporary Anglican concerns.
- Beyond Colonial Anglicanism: The Anglican Communion in the Twenty-first Century, ed. by Ian Douglas and Kwok Pui-lan (New York: Seabury Press, 2000) changed the focus of Anglican studies.
- English Spirituality (2 volumes), by Gordon Mursell (London: SPCK, 2000) provides context both before and after the reformations-era.
- Love’s Redeeming Work: The Anglican Quest for Holiness, ed. by Geoffrey Rowell, Kenneth Stevenson and Rowan Williams (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001) enters the tradition from the angle of ‘spirituality’.
- The Oxford Handbook of Anglicanism, Volume IV: Global Western Anglicanism, 1910–present, by Jeremy Morris (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2016) and its companion The Oxford Handbook of Anglicanism, Volume V: Global Anglicanism, 1910–present, ed. by William Sachs (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2017) need to be read together on the contemporary scene, while other volumes in the same series provide historical background.
- Anglican Theology: Postcolonial Perspectives, ed. by James Tengatenga and Stephen Burns (London: SCM Press, 2024) introduces tricontinental theologians in the Anglican tradition.
- Twentieth Century Anglican Theologians: From Evelyn Underhill to Esther Mombo, ed. by Stephen Burns, Bryan Cones and James Tengatenga (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2021) explores the diversity of thought across more than twenty theologians in this tradition.
Journals
- Anglican and Episcopal History.
- Anglican Theological Review, which is largely focused on North American versions of the tradition.
- Journal of Anglican Studies, which is edited from Australia, and has a wider scope than ATR.