In Search of Authority by The Rev Paul Avis
In this new three-part book series, Avis tackles a series of issues relevant to Anglicanism in the current day. The first book, In Search of Authority, seeks to examine Anglican Theology in relation to questions of authority. Anglican theology has been a hotbed of debate about the issue of authority since the Reformation. What do we really appeal to when attempting to decide matters of doctrine, worship, ministry or ethics? The debate is very much alive today, between Evangelical, Liberal and Catholic Anglicans around the world. This book focuses on the understanding of authority in Anglican theology.
Paul Avis’s new work is characteristically well integrated with his many previous contributions to theological scholarshipHe has already dealt extensively with the dynamics and the structures of ecclesial authority. [...] It is a remarkable achievement. -- Vernon White, Westminster Abbey * Theology *
This is an exceptional book by one of the world's leading authorities on Anglican theology ... [and] an essential book for every scholar of Anglicanism to own and engage with. * Journal of Anglican Studies *
[Avis's] analysis of theologians ancient and modern is accessible, clear, balanced, eirenic and constructive. He is always sensitive to the relevance of historical theology to contemporary church issues ... [and] is thoroughly au fait with the relevant contemporary scholarship. * Ecclesiology *
This is an excellent book ... [Avis] writes a detailed and thorough account of Anglican beliefs and concepts ... I look forward to the next two in the series and highly recommend this part wholeheartedly with those who want a comprehensive intellectual history of classical Anglicanism. -- Jack Mcdonald * Tijdschrift voor Theologie [Bloomsbury Translation] *
This book will be of interest to all specialists who are interested in the history of Anglican theological thought. * Bulletin of St. Tikhon's Orthodox University (Bloomsbury translation) *
This is a very welcome first volume to what promises to be an extremely important three volume project on authority in Anglican theology. In the headlines about public conflict between Anglican churches there has often been little sensible consideration of the kind of authority that is appropriate in such arguments. Avis has been a consistent contributor to the serious and scholarly discussion of Anglicanism that has been growing in recent decades. His discussion of Thomas Hobbes and Edmund Burke would justify the book, but there is much more here. His reframing of the Enlightenment enables a richer understanding of the various currents that have come to be gathered under that heading. This book is timely and mportant. It is a must for anyone who wants to understand modern Anglican theology and essential reading for anyone who wants to speak sensibly about Anglican beliefs. * Bruce Kaye, Founding Editor Journal of Anglican Studies, Charles Sturt University, Australia *
This book is much more than the title promises: It presents the reader with a picture of how the Church of England developed intellectually from a church shaped by the Reformation into an ecclesial body of its own unique kind. By his original approach of combining not only theological and philosophical but also literary sources, Paul Avis gives his historical narrative a multivalent perspective found nowhere else. And by choosing the question of authority as his central theme, he not only reveals himself as a part of the history he describes, but he also contributes to one of the most burning issues today in and between the churches, as well as in society as a whole. * Dorothea Wendebourg, Humboldt University, Germany *
Questions about authority are inherent in the unfolding of the Christian tradition through history. Although at times the nature of authority has been restricted to a single source such as an infallible Scripture or the infallible exercise of an ecclesial office, it has been characteristic of Anglicanism to base its interpretation of authority on 'a principle of continuous progression'. Authority is thus seen as a living reality in the life of the Church. In In Search of Authority Paul Avis has given us a much-needed and widely inclusive analysis of how this understanding of the sources of authority has been expressed in the writings of Anglican theologians from the Reformation to the Enlightenment. This concept of authority is not focused in a single source, no matter how hallowed, but is progressively reshaped as Anglicanism has encountered new questions in new contexts which have required new answers. This is a valuable interpretation of how an ‘Anglican theological method’ emerged as this progression shaped and reshaped Anglican identity. * Louis Weil, Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, California *
This is an exceptional book by one of the world's leading authorities on Anglican theology ... [and] an essential book for every scholar of Anglicanism to own and engage with. * Journal of Anglican Studies *
[Avis's] analysis of theologians ancient and modern is accessible, clear, balanced, eirenic and constructive. He is always sensitive to the relevance of historical theology to contemporary church issues ... [and] is thoroughly au fait with the relevant contemporary scholarship. * Ecclesiology *
This is an excellent book ... [Avis] writes a detailed and thorough account of Anglican beliefs and concepts ... I look forward to the next two in the series and highly recommend this part wholeheartedly with those who want a comprehensive intellectual history of classical Anglicanism. -- Jack Mcdonald * Tijdschrift voor Theologie [Bloomsbury Translation] *
This book will be of interest to all specialists who are interested in the history of Anglican theological thought. * Bulletin of St. Tikhon's Orthodox University (Bloomsbury translation) *
This is a very welcome first volume to what promises to be an extremely important three volume project on authority in Anglican theology. In the headlines about public conflict between Anglican churches there has often been little sensible consideration of the kind of authority that is appropriate in such arguments. Avis has been a consistent contributor to the serious and scholarly discussion of Anglicanism that has been growing in recent decades. His discussion of Thomas Hobbes and Edmund Burke would justify the book, but there is much more here. His reframing of the Enlightenment enables a richer understanding of the various currents that have come to be gathered under that heading. This book is timely and mportant. It is a must for anyone who wants to understand modern Anglican theology and essential reading for anyone who wants to speak sensibly about Anglican beliefs. * Bruce Kaye, Founding Editor Journal of Anglican Studies, Charles Sturt University, Australia *
This book is much more than the title promises: It presents the reader with a picture of how the Church of England developed intellectually from a church shaped by the Reformation into an ecclesial body of its own unique kind. By his original approach of combining not only theological and philosophical but also literary sources, Paul Avis gives his historical narrative a multivalent perspective found nowhere else. And by choosing the question of authority as his central theme, he not only reveals himself as a part of the history he describes, but he also contributes to one of the most burning issues today in and between the churches, as well as in society as a whole. * Dorothea Wendebourg, Humboldt University, Germany *
Questions about authority are inherent in the unfolding of the Christian tradition through history. Although at times the nature of authority has been restricted to a single source such as an infallible Scripture or the infallible exercise of an ecclesial office, it has been characteristic of Anglicanism to base its interpretation of authority on 'a principle of continuous progression'. Authority is thus seen as a living reality in the life of the Church. In In Search of Authority Paul Avis has given us a much-needed and widely inclusive analysis of how this understanding of the sources of authority has been expressed in the writings of Anglican theologians from the Reformation to the Enlightenment. This concept of authority is not focused in a single source, no matter how hallowed, but is progressively reshaped as Anglicanism has encountered new questions in new contexts which have required new answers. This is a valuable interpretation of how an ‘Anglican theological method’ emerged as this progression shaped and reshaped Anglican identity. * Louis Weil, Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, California *
Paul Avis is Canon Theologian of Exeter Cathedral, hon. professor of theology in the University of Exeter, UK, editor-in-chief of Ecclesiology and a Chaplain to HM Queen Elizabeth II.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780567026484 |
| ISBN 10 | 0567026485 |
| Title | In Search of Authority |
| Author | The Rev Paul Avis |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |
| Year published | 2014-02-27 |
| Number of pages | 416 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |