Unity: Anglicanism's Impossible Dream?

For years, there has been talk of the importance of unity without a clear theological narrative to underpin this, leading to competing claims of what this unity is for or defined by, and challenges posed to its possibility or desirability as a polity and as a theological idea. This book is a timely theological exploration of the concept of unity in the context of divisions, frictions, frustrations and arguments both within the Church of England, and the wider Anglican Communion. Resisting the urge to merely provide a cut-and-dry definition of unity, author Charlie Bell teases out the theological currents that run in this stream of thought, and ensure that we are refining our thinking, and doing justice to a topic that may appear to contain many opposing and contradictory elements. That unity is a call of Christ to His church is not in doubt – what that unity might look like in the reality of today’s ecclesial and cultural landscape is the question that this book seeks to answer.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements ix Part 1 Where we find ourselves 1 Introduction 3 2 The Church of England: An introduction 16 3 Where the land lies: The Communion and contemporary polity 37 4 Anglican identity and unity 59 Part 2 Reflections on unity 5 Ut unum sint: A biblical reflection 79 6 Heresies and history: Creeds, councils and the patristic era 95 7 Dwelling together in unity: Ecumenism and relationship 110 Part 3 The search for Anglican unity 8 Rediscovering our common threads 131 9 Walking together and walking apart: Anglican unity in a time of crisis 151 Bibliography 168 Index of Biblical References 183 Index of Names and Subjects 185

About the Author :
Charlie Bell is Official Fellow and College Lecturer in Medicine and Public Theology at Girton College, Cambridge, and a Registrar in Forensic Psychiatry. He is a priest in the Diocese of Southwark, Scholar in Residence at the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York City, Visiting Scholar at Sarum College, and a Research Fellow and Associate Tutor at St Augustine’s College of Theology.

Review :
"Charlie Bell sets out a helpful and provocative introduction to some of the profound challenges which beset the Anglican Communion; he encourages us to a fuller theological sense of the Church’s unity as revelation and gift, and writes with passion and hope about the great common treasure which Christians are challenged to receive together." “Brilliantly written, accessible and yet well researched, Charlie Bell’s vision of church unity will appeal to all those who bewail the Church of England’s current divisions, and yet yearn for a variegated church life which can accommodate people of contrasting views. For Bell, church unity is not merely instrumental, mechanical or institutional, but something essential to what it means to be a Christian following the one way of Jesus Christ. Unity is concrete and practical, built on what he calls ‘purposive love’. Since the demands of love within the Christian community ultimately precede all other principles, Christians are obliged by their faith to continue to walk together even as they find themselves ranged on different, even opposed sides on particular matters. There is a serious, challenging passion at work here.” "Charlie Bell has mastered the reading list and produced a book which makes a valuable contribution by bringing together a number of contested issues (often treated separately) under the heading of the quest for unity" "This is a challenging critique of the current state of leadership within and between the churches of the Anglican Communion. Written by a committed supporter of same-sex marriage within the Church of England, it nevertheless transcends this specific issue to present an argument for a theological reimagining of unity across those churches, an argument with which every point of view should engage. In this way it offers a spirited and sometimes troubling contribution to the ongoing conversation about the nature and destiny of Anglicanism in these turbulent times."