BOOK BITE
ANGLICAN DIFFICULTIES: A New Syllabus of Errors, by Edward Norman. Morehouse Publishing, 2004. xiv + 152 pp. (BX5005.N45)
ANGLICAN DIFFICULTIES is a selection of the Anglican Book Club. Historian Edward Norman is seen as the most persuasive and articulate exponent of what has been termed “the new right.” (Anglican Book Club).
The author believes THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER faces diminishment. “In its place, and after thirty years of preparatory liturgical experiment …there appeared COMMON WORSHIP. In theory there are now two legal prayer books in the Church of England. The Book of Common Prayer remains, but is fast falling out of use as generations change…” (P. 18).
Norman, Professor of History at the University of York, says: “The Church of England is riddled with theological liberals. Despite the Evangelical majority which now approaches predominance in the Church it is still the influence of the liberals which is most encountered in educational and administrative circles.” (Pp. 27-28). The author addresses “failure of leadership,” and the “crisis of authority.” The last chapter asks, “Does the Church of England have a future?” Norman answers “yes.” But, diminished.
The Anglican Book Club says of ANGLICAN DIFFICULTIES: “A searing book about the state of the Anglican Church from its most gifted right-wing enfant terrible. Edward Norman is the scourge of the liberal establishment, which still dominates the Church of England.” The Renouf / Nelson Library, in La Parroquia, mirrors theological balance.
…The Library Committee