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A Guide to the Church of England

Author:	Martin Davie
Published By:	Mowbray (London)
Pages:	248
Price:	£9.99
ISBN:	978 1 906286 13 2

Reviewed by Chris Skilton.

Can “A Guide to the Church of England” ever be written? I am sure that many have considered the enterprise and given up on an impossible task. Martin Davie is well qualified to have made the attempt and has succeeded! He is Theological Secretary of the Council for Christian Unity of the Church of England and Theological Consultant to the House of Bishops. The book arose out of the commitment of the former group to foster understanding between the Church of England and other Christian traditions in this country.

To that end this book deals with the origins of the C of E, its organisation and government, the nature of establishment, ministry, worship and doctrine, the relationship with other churches and other faiths, and the nature of the church’s mission today.

It is written in an engaging style, although it is more of a resource to be consulted than to be read from cover to cover. The book is written from a legal and factual perspective and to engage the head rather than the heart. The section on doctrine for instance is based on the 39 Articles rather than for the enquirer into the faith; there is a  robust defence and exploration of the three-fold order of bishops, priests and deacons and a strong defence of establishment (on constitutional  grounds more than pastoral and missiological ones). It is strange that there is not more about the Church of England in relation to the Anglican Communion and the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury, given the significance of this dimension of church life today.

A resource such as this will need constant updating - even on an annual basis - if it is to remain of lasting value. At the time it was written there was little to say, for instance, about the new Clergy Terms and Conditions of Service and Common Tenure which will arrive in 2010. There was disappointingly little to say about MissionShapedChurch, Fresh Expressions and Pioneer Ministry and little about finance at a national level and almost nothing at local level. A consideration of the place of stewardship in the life of the church would have been helpful and appropriate.

There are inevitably some small quibbles - candidates for ordination now attend a “Bishop’s Advisory Panel”, not a “Selection Conference” (p.116), and some might not necessarily see the Emmaus resources “taking a more Catholic approach” (p.224).

This book will nevertheless offer some a good introduction to and grounding in the workings of the Church of England. It will provide new curates and lay leaders with a guide to the church in which they serve and, being reasonably priced, will be accessible to many. I’m not sure how much ministers of other denominations will want this much information about the Church of England. I suspect that some of my Baptist friends might treat the book much as they might the Church of England itself - they wouldn’t go to it much themselves, but are glad that it is there!