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- 'The best book I have ever read about life inside the Church of England. Lucid, passionate and timely. Read it now before the whole thing's gone' Andrew Brown, Church Times
- An explosive demolition job on the Church of England, arguing for its break-up
- Exposes the shocking extent of homophobia in the church
- The crisis in the church permeates all aspects: church buildings, the liturgy, its finances, the morale of the clergy
- Michael Hampson worked as a parish priest for thirteen years
- Channel 4 documentary under discussion 'A polemic, passionate and well-informed book...extremely readable and informative and it is a wonderful guide to what is currently happening in the Church of England...very moving' Baptist
Sainsbury's Magazine "Hot Books" November 2006
"Utterly compelling"
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First Sentence
I first attended an ordination service just three years before my own ordination. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
I first attended an ordination service just three years before my own ordination. Read the first page
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Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is extremely well written and readable. The author is very clear about his own personal story and biases, and as such this is essential reading for anyone interested in the debate about the future of the Church. His arguments are valid and persuasive and he comes across as someone who is very passionate about the church and its future. I love his passion and determination about the importance of change and it's certainly something that the church could do with a lot more of. He paints a bleak picture but I'm sure his experience will resonate with a lot of people, particularly in rural areas. This is a book that is as relevant now (if not more so) than when it was published. Many will no doubt disagree with his arguments, but this book is thought-provoking and challenging and very readable.
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A healthy spirituality requires healthy spiritual communities to support it, and Hampson's analysis of the state of the Church of England is profoundly disturbing. It has essentially been colonised by a form of fundamentalist, evangelical Christianity that now threatens the very existence of the state church. Moving inexorably towards greater homophobic, misogynist and excluding influences the church in Hampson's searing yet compassionate view is very nearly a lost cause and is failing in its primary duty to be of spiritual succour to Christians in the world wide Anglican communion. Yet he offers hopeful possibilities. Having done a demolition job on the parlous state of the church - its inner tensions, its riven values, its shaky finances, its failing structures and systems - he offers hope in his analysis. His recommendations for an Anglican revival, restructuring, realigning and re-envisoning of its core purpose and practices contain many eminently sensible solutions. It may be that he is too optimistic, that disabled as it is, the Anglican church is lost as a mainstream, liberal, progressive and inclusive Christianity. Does that matter? Some might say, a plague on your house, yet there is an investment for us all if the Anglican church can find good health. The development of healthy spirituality in communities will be affected one way or another by the health of such (still) massively and globally influential bodies as the Church of England and those others in the Anglican communion. He writes not just from a theological or a scholarly perspective (and he writes exceedingly well) but also from a personal one - giving a fascination read rooted in his own story, and thereby making the relevance and depth of the problem accessible and apparent to any reader, not just Anglicans. In so doing he also produces a fine case study in what can happen to a spiritual community when it is gripped by unhealthy shadows. I hope that his analysis and suggestions for ways forward are accepted. If not, the Anglican church as a relevant force for good and for Christianity in the modern world is lost. A highly recommended read for all.
18 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a heartfelt, earnest and very readable book about one former clergymen's experiences within the Church of England. The author is gay and the book resonates with both the kindness but also the prejudice he experienced working as a homosexual priest within the church. The honesty is compelling and helps to take the reader beyond (perhaps) misplaced theology to see, as Jesus did, not the doctrine but the person, fully loved by God. Bound up in this honesty is found hurt and this is the book's Achilles' heel. The author, Michael Hampson, makes unwarranted sideswipes at strange targets including family services, non-stipendiary (`part time') priests, inclusive baptism services and the `emerging church' movement. Worse, there is a tendency to somewhat coarse stereotyping and generalisation which, at its worse - for example when talking of the `cult of fundamentalism' - seems no more nuanced or inoffensive than much of the brickbats thrown at homosexuality within the church. Still, frustration can manifest itself in many ways and, for much of the book, it does so positively. Some of his manifesto about dismantling the traditional Church of England, promoting both greater diversity and more local autonomy require serious consideration. And anyone who is brave enough to suggest that it's time the CoE handed over the keys of its ancient but empty building to some other organisation that is prepared to pay for that heritage, thus leaving the church to concentrate on the present, is certainly worth listening to.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Prophetic Words at Last
My own formation as a priest in the Anglican Church of Australia, and my interest in the same theological issues, in many ways reflect those of the author. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Donald Grey-Smith
Gives the case in a nutshell
A well written book. Easy to read and very informative. Gives the case in an nutshell. I liked the manifesto chapter especially using laity alot more as part of the priesthood... Read more
Published 8 months ago by S.D.PARKIN
Sour Grapes
This is not a book about the Church of England, but about the writer, and his experience of the Church of England and other Christian communities: large parts of it are... Read more
Published 19 months ago by David Lyon
simplistic and unhelpful
This book excels at generalisation and sweeping statements. It shows no love of the Church of England and I don't recognise (having been ordained 9 years) this book being about the... Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2007 by Mr. C. Goble
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