Anglicanism has come to worldwide significance in the context of modernity and debate about the recent difficulties in the Anglican communion which have been of such note and concern has been influenced by this context. The categories of the debate as reflected in the Virginia Report provide a case study of the difficulties. That report is examined in this light and the tendency of the argument drawn out to show a disposition to see issues in terms of control and exclusion. A consideration of the origins of the Anglican Communion shows that it expresses a disposition of Christians to pray for one another. It is a myth not in the sense that it is unreal but in the sense that it provides a way of understanding how the communion works. It works like a myth and in being re-enacted gains its force. This argument is combined with the notion of scapegoat in the writings of Rene Girard and applied to the case of Gene Robinson in order to lead to a better understanding of inclusive love and communion.

The Church of England is experiencing a significant decline in membership and in other forms of influence and engagement, whose implications may have consequences for the Anglican Communion as a whole. The qualitative as well as quantitative changes suggest the need for a renewal of Anglican public theology that maintains a positive account of the relationship between church and world while letting go the expectation of privilege and power. Articles in this issue of the Journal of Anglican Studies address the public character of Christianity in Britain after Christendom.

The patriarchal environment of nineteenth century England viewed women as weak and naïve creatures who should submit to the dictates of men. Religion, however, could give women a sense of freedom and independence from male authority. When auricular confession began to gain acceptance in some sections of the Anglican Church, women saw this as a way of asserting their independence because they could confide their personal thoughts and problems to a clergymen. This could, in the opinion of some, threaten the powerful role of the husband or father by substituting an alternative patriarchal system, and many critics warned of the dangers associated with the confessional, especially the weakening of the male dominated family structure. The Priest in Absolution gave advice to Anglican confessors, but the sexual nature of the questions, made public in 1877, shocked the public and confirmed the fears of the opponents of auricular confession.

The question of the authority, use and relevance of Scripture in today’s Anglican Communion needs to be addressed more thoroughly. All authority is God’s authority, and the question of Scripture’s authority needs to be reframed in that light: God is not merely providing information and instruction, but taking forward his Kingdom-project, and Scripture is not merely a witness to that but also a necessary agent, equipping God’s people for their tasks. Various questions then emerge in a new light: we need an integrated, layered, and nuanced vision of the whole Scripture, foregrounding the gospel challenge of new creation and recognizing the inadequacy of some standard slogans such as Jesus’ supposed slackening of the law. In particular, the biblical basis of ‘covenant’ needs further exploration, and the whole communion should embrace a much richer practice of Scripture reading and study to face the challenges of tomorrow’s world.

The new Muslim presence in the West has become the source of multiple anxieties. This article, by focusing on one city in the north of England with a Muslim presence which has grown from 3000 to 130,000 in 50 years, considers the resources which state and the established church bring to incorporate such communities in the mainstream of society. The Muslim communities are not presented as passive victims of prejudice and exclusion but as possessed of agency. This paper concludes that there are expressions of Islam which are easy to incorporate but others which generate an isolationist mindset which can create major problems.

This article argues that a breakthrough is possible in the development of Anglican eucharistic liturgies. A dialogue approach holds out the promise of distancing the process of liturgical development from party spirit and particular interest, and focusing it instead on the self-reflection and intersubjectivity of communicative action, while also recognizing the multiformity of philosophical assumptions underlying the Anglican eucharistic tradition. Such a process has potential to emancipate the Anglican eucharistic tradition from conflict and centre attention on a more critical self-reflection on the discourse of the tradition. Eucharistic liturgies in use in Australia are considered in terms of their underlying philosophical assumptions, and recommendations are made for the use of a dialogue approach based on Habermas’s theory of communicative action.

Since 1998 there has been a revived interest in theology among Anglicans around the world. Rowan Williams has encouraged this with the promotion of a Theological Education for the Anglican Communion Commission. The Global South primates have called for a rejection of the Western paradigm of Anglican theology in the context of the current debates about sexuality. The key Lambeth resolution on sexuality at the 1998 conference carries with it significant assumptions and challenges about theological method. There has been a renewed focus on context in doing theology. These changes can be seen in the case of Kenya where there has been a determined effort to re-cast the theological curriculum. Theology has also become more popular among lay people and theological work is expanding and flourishing.

In the perennial discussions about Anglican identity some voices predominate more than others. L’Eglise Anglicane du Congo is a small province with a modest voice in the Anglican Communion. This article looks at Congolese Anglican identity as articulated by its members and examines the way in which the formation of that identity emerges from local concerns as well as wider networks. It uses interviews with members to focus on the majority appreciation of ‘order’, as expressed in governance and ritual, and recent shifts in the discourses surrounding ‘order’ to engage with changes in the country. The article borrows the terms ‘translocal’ and ‘transnational’ from the social sciences to explore the overlapping relational identities that emerge and the multi-directional dynamics of Congolese Anglicans. It suggests that this approach may have wider implications for understanding Anglicanism.

This essay examines the concept of the Anglican via media and its historical development into its present form. It argues that the Anglican via media is properly understood not as a fixed program of reform, but as moderation in reform, following the classical notion of moderation as a mean between two extremes. The essay traces the theological theme of moderation in reform through the figures of Jewel, Parker, Hooker, Hall, Montagu, Cosin, Forbes, Bramhall, Puller, Knox, to Jebb’s idea of Anglican exceptionalism, and, ultimately, to Newman’s attempt to create the doctrine of the Anglican via media.

The present situation of global Anglicanism sharply highlights issues of plurality which have been created in part by the nature of the tradition and also by the history of its expansion. Plurality and difference inevitably call for some account of this in relation to the tradition. Recent work has often focused on koinonia as a way of dealing with the relationships involved in the church community. But many of our problems arise from an absence of a capacity to require actions of others. A better way into this precisely institutional question is through Richard Hooker's discussion of power and order. Such a consideration leads to the need to develop more effective adjacent connections, and thus to a regionalizing of the communion.