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Last rites : the end of the Church of England / Michael Hampson.
Van Pelt - Yarnall Collection BX5131.3 .H35 2006
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Hampson, Michael.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Church of England--Government.
- Church of England.
- Political science.
- Church membership.
- Church renewal--Church of England.
- Church renewal.
- Physical Description:
- 244 pages ; 22 cm
- Place of Publication:
- London : Granta, 2006.
- Summary:
- Dire Sunday services, shrinking congregations and financial melt-down are realities of the contemporary Church of England. In this controversial book, Michael Hampson, who worked as a parish priest for thirteen years, examines the crisis in the Church of England. It is a church in decline, whose attendance has never been lower and whose power is being surrendered by stages to an emerging fundamentalism alien even to its own membership. Hampson describes a church irreconcilably divided between liberals and evangelicals, shackled by tradition and with little resonance for the people of modern Britain. He locates the roots of its demise in its history, from the reformation to the ordination of women and beyond.
- The internal fault lines of the church were exposed in 2003 by the forced resignation of Jeffrey John, the first openly gay man appointed a bishop. Michael Hampson demolishes the damaging arguments against homosexual clergy and movingly describes his own journey to ordination as a gay man within a prejudiced church. In a powerful conclusion, he argues that a radical transformation in both culture and structure is the one hope for the renewal of the Church of England. Last Rites is a fascinating and fiery insiders view of a church that has failed its clergy, its laity and the nation at large.
- Contents:
- Part I The State We're In
- 1 Vicarage Life 9
- 2 Hierarchy: From the Crown to the Curate 33
- Part II History
- 3 The Emergence of the Three-Party Church: From the Reformation to the Twentieth Century 43
- 4 The Rise of Evangelicalism 58
- 5 The Charismatic Era: 1960-1983 66
- 6 Descent into Chaos: 1983-2005 94
- Part III The Theme That Will Not Go Away
- 7 The Insider's Story 111
- 8 Jeffrey John and the Aftermath 139
- 9 Use and Abuse of the Bible 150
- Part IV The Future
- 10 The Coming Financial Crisis 167
- 11 A Manifesto 178.
- Local Notes:
- Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Charlton Yarnall Fund.
- ISBN:
- 1862078912
- OCLC:
- 70173905
- Publisher Number:
- 9781862078918
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