Costly Communion: Ecumenical Initiative and Sacramental Strife in the Anglican Communion seeks to engage with Anglicanism’s theological responses to the onset of the twilight of empire and to explore the diversity of Anglican sacramental and ecumenical controversies during the twentieth century. From sacramental initiation and the doctrine of Eucharistic sacrifice to church order and the historic episcopate, Costly Communion offers insights into Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical attempts to resolve the divisions provoked by the impact of the Oxford Movement from the 1830s. In its engagement with sub-Saharan African contextualization of the Anglican, moreover, Costly Communion analyses the unanticipated threat that Anglican diversity now poses for the unity of the Anglican Communion.
Contributors are: Jeff Boldt, Jeremy Bonner, Hugh Bowron, Mark Chapman, Colin Buchanan, Ken Farrimond, Joseph Galgalo, Benjamin Guyer, Charlotte Methuen, Thomas Mhuriro, Esther Mombo, Zablon Nthamburi, Kevin Ward.
Mark Chapman, DPhil. (1988) is Vice-Principal of Ripon College, Cuddesdon, Oxford and Professor of the History of Modern Theology at the University of Oxford. His books include Anglican Theology (2012) and Anglicanism: A Very Short Introduction (2006).
Jeremy Bonner, Ph.D. (2001) is an honorary fellow in church history at the University of Durham. His books include Called Out of Darkness Into Marvelous Light: A History of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, 1750-2006 (2009).
"In Costly communion, Mark Chapman and Jeremy Bonner gather a number of expert scholars to investigate issues of ‘ecumenical initiative and sacramental strife in the Anglican communion’. [This] collection is always informative, and (on occasion) reaches real heights." - Mark Hutchinson, Alphacrucis College, Australia, in: Journal of Ecclesiastical History Volume 73 (2022).
"Because of the editors' skillful organization, this well-crafted volume succeeds in finding common themes within an incredibly diverse landscape. It is particularly recommended to those interested in Africa's role in ecumenical controversies." Justus D. Doenecke, New College of Florida, in: Anglican & Episcopal History, Volume 89.4 (2020).
Contributors
Introduction Jeremy Bonner and Mark D. Chapman
Part 1: A Sure Witness and Effectual Sign of Grace: Confirmation and the Eucharist in Anglican Life
1 Confirmation – the Excluding Feature? A Study of Anglican Confirmation in Its Ecumenical Implications 1870–1920 Colin Buchanan
2 Confirmation and Figuration in the Thornton–Lampe Debate Jeff Boldt
3 ‘Out of Conflict – Development’: the Doctrine of Eucharistic Sacrifice in Twentieth-century Anglo-Catholicism Hugh Bowron
4 ‘The Sacramental Universe’: Theologies of Nature in North Atlantic Anglicanism, 1922–2012 Benjamin Guyer
Part 2: Locally Adapted to the Varying Needs of the Nations: Church Union and the Anglican Episcopate, 1900–1950
5 The 1913 Kikuyu Conference, Anglo-Catholics and the Church of England Mark D. Chapman
6 The Kikuyu Proposals in Their Contemporary Ecumenical Perspective Charlotte Methuen
7 ‘The Assurance of Things Hoped for, the Conviction of Things Not Seen’: Bishop John Jamieson Willis and the Mission of the Church, 1910–1947 Jeremy Bonner
8 The Cost of Being ‘Catholick and Apostolick’ for the Church Missionary Society, 1899–1939 Ken Farrimond
Part 3: The African Search for an Anglican Via Media, 1890–2013
9 The Poverty of Anglican Prophecy and the Legacy of Arthur Shearly Cripps in Colonial Zimbabwe Thomas Mhuriro
10 The Role of the Invisible but Visible Women in the 1913 Kikuyu Conference Esther Mombo
11 The Kikuyu Conference as a Precursor to the Development of African Christian Theology Zablon Nthamburi
12 The Kenyan Alliance of Protestant Missions 1919–1963: Ecumenism Adrift in a Colonial Society Kevin Ward
13 The Kikuyu Conference and Global South Anglicanism: for What Does the Anglican Communion Stand? Joseph Galgalo
Bibliography Index
All interested in the development of Anglican and sacramental theology in late imperial and postcolonial contexts, with particular reference to sub-Saharan Africa.