'WE LIVE IN AN AGE of bi-lateral conversations between Anglicanism and other Christian Churches. The 1988 Lambeth Conference affirmed those already established, and added to their number. It is a paradoxical truth of ecumenical experience to find that inter-church conversations have prompted many Anglicans to consider more deeply their own identity and traditions. This volume by Paul Avis will assist all those who do so. I welcome its appearance a further sign that study of Anglican ecclesiology is firmly on our doctrinal agenda.

Dr Robert Runcie

Archbishop of Canterbury

'If Anglicanism is to have a more profound sense of its character as a branch of the Christian faith that now lives in a number of churches throughout the world, books like Paul Avis's Anglicanism and the Christian Church will play a vital role. With its penetrating insights into the theological and ideological strains of several critical periods in Anglican history, this study invites reassessment of the place of the reformed tradition and of the Oxford Movement in particular. In future ecumenical dialogue such self-understanding will be invaluable.'

The Rt. Rev. Frederick H. Borsch, Ph.D. Episcopal Bishop of Los Angeles

'Paul Avis's book Anglicanism and the Christian Church, is a valuable contribution to the discussion of Anglicanism, its identity and its future. His book is rightly grounded in a careful study of the roots of Anglicanism in the sixteenth century and of its development in subsequent centuries. At the end there is a valuable essay on "Authority in Anglican Theology". Most intriguing are discussions of identity in the first chapter and of an "Authentic Paradigm for, Anglicanism" in the last. Both deserve close attention by leaders of other communions, for their own sakes and for a deeper understanding of Anglicanism in ecumenical dialogues.'

John Booty

Professor of Anglican Studies

The School of Theology The University of the South