The sign outside the conservative, white church in the small southern U.S. town announces that the church is part of the Episcopal Church--of Rwanda. In Anglican Communion in Crisis, Miranda Hassett tells the fascinating story of how a new alliance between conservative American Episcopalians and African Anglicans is transforming conflicts between American Episcopalians--especially over homosexuality--into global conflicts within the Anglican church. In the mid-1990s, conservative American Episcopalians and Anglican leaders from Africa and other parts of the Southern Hemisphere began to forge ties in opposition to the American Episcopal Church's perceived liberalism and growing toleration of homosexuality. This resulted in dozens of American Episcopal churches submitting to the authority of African bishops. Based on wide research, interviews with key participants and observers, and months Hassett spent in a southern U.S. parish of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda and in Anglican communities in Uganda, Anglican Communion in Crisis is the first anthropological examination of the coalition between American Episcopalians and African Anglicans. The book challenges common views--that the relationship between the Americans and Africans is merely one of convenience or even that the Americans bought the support of the Africans. Instead, Hassett argues that their partnership is a deliberate and committed movement that has tapped the power and language of globalization in an effort to move both the American Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion to the right.

Worldwide debates over issues of sexuality and gender have come to a head in recent years in mainline and evangelical churches, with the Anglican Communion—a worldwide network of churches that trace their practice to Canterbury and claim some 85 million members—among the most publicly visible sites of contestation. This thorough and compelling analysis of the conflicts within the Communion argues that they are symptoms of long-simmering issues that must be addressed when Anglican bishops and archbishops meet at the 2020 Lambeth Conference. To many, the disagreements over such issues as LGBTQ clergy, same-sex marriage, and women’s ordination suggest an insurmountable crisis facing Anglicans, one that may ultimately end the Communion. Christopher Craig Brittain and Andrew McKinnon argue otherwise. Drawing on extensive empirical research and interviews with influential Anglican leaders, they show how these struggles stem from a complex interplay of factors, notably the forces and effects of globalization, new communications technology, and previous decisions made by the Communion. In clarifying both the theological arguments and social forces at play as the bishops and primates of the Anglican Communion prepare to set the Church’s course for the next decade, Brittain and McKinnon combine sociological and theological methodologies to provide both a nuanced portrait of Anglicanism in a transnational age and a primer on the issues with which the Lambeth Conference will wrestle. Insightful, informative, and thought-provoking, The Anglican Communion at a Crossroads is an invaluable resource for understanding the debates taking place in this worldwide community. Those interested in Anglicanism, sexuality and the Christian tradition, the sociology of religion, and the evolving relationship between World Christianity and churches in the Global North will find it indispensable.

Uncovers the origins of the conflict over homosexuality which has drawn worldwide interest and divided the Anglican Church.

This volume, endorsed by Anglican bishops and scholars around the world, is important reading for those preparing for the Global Anglican Future Conference in Jerusalem in June 2018 - and for those in other traditions too. Author Stephen Noll has been a watchman and participant in Anglican affairs over the past quarter century, as a priest and educator in the USA and Uganda. This highly readable anthology of his writings, often written in the heat of the battle, chronicles the departure of the Anglican establishment in North America and England from classic Christian teaching on Scripture, marriage, and church order. Professor Noll concludes: "I want to commend to readers the vision of a renewed and reformed Global Anglican Communion, a communion of churches that builds on the heritage of the Church of England and represents the emerging leadership of formerly colonial Anglican churches, whereby the oversight of doctrine and discipline has shifted from Canterbury to the Global South."

"There have been other discussions of the Archbishop of Canterbury's theology, but this is the first serious attempt to link it with his ecclesiastical policy. The parallel seems to be drawn very tellingly." The Revd Dr Roger Beckwith, formerly warden of Latimer House, Oxford. "Charles Raven has provided convincing evidence about the real problem facing us in the Church of England and how this has affected the wider Anglican Communion. He argues that we are experiencing not so much an ecclesial defi cit as a confessional one. His book is an excellent introduction to the deeper issues that sooner or later will affect us all." Rt. Rev John Ellison, Retired Bishop of Paraguay. "Archbishop Rowan Williams is the most significant theologian influencing the Anglican Communion at the moment. Therefore it is important for orthodox Anglicans to understand his thinking. Charles Raven has performed a great service by going through Archbishop Williams' work carefully and helping us to see the foundations of his thought and the direction in which he is going." Canon Dr Vinay Samuel, Church of South India and Convenor of GAFCON Theological Resource Group. Charles Raven is Rector of Christ Church Wyre Forest, an Anglican church plant near Kidderminster in Worcestershire, and is a widely read commentator on the Anglican Communion as Director of SPREAD (The Society for the Promotion of Reformed Evangelical Anglican Doctrine). He also serves as a member of the GAFCON Theological Resource Group. Educated at Oxford and Durham Universities, he was ordained into the Church of England in 1988 after working in the banking industry. He is married to Gillian, a teacher, and they have three children.