Shaping A Church Of Ethical Integrity
Groundwork for a Church Rebuilt
Format:Paperback
Publisher:SCM Press
Publishing:27th Feb '26
£40.00
This title is due to be published on 27th February, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
In Shaping a Church of Ethical Integrity, Paul Avis offers a bold and incisive critique of the current state and future trajectory of the Church of England under its national and (in some cases) diocesan leadership. While demolishing some prevailing assumptions, he reinforces the enduring values and salutary practices that are still present, especially in many parishes and their hard-working clergy and laity. Through a scholarly, yet clear and accessible analysis, Avis brings to bear some key ethical-theological concepts such as institutional authenticity, subsidiarity, solidarity, locality as the source of what makes the Church viable, sacramental communion, and an establishment that is defensible. Engaging, controversial and always theological, this work challenges the Church to recover the path of ethical integrity, transparency and mutuality in its internal and external relations – a challenge and pathway that is relevant to other Churches too.
A deep, sobering, passionate analysis of where the Church of England has gone so wrong in recent decades and a call to a fundamental renewal of its faith and values. This book is written in fire and anger, but also in unwavering belief in the faithfulness of God to restore the Church and renew its purpose to be a blessing to the whole of society. -- Angela Tilby
Few people are as well placed as Paul Avis to help the Church of England address its current anxieties about its failures of character and identity. Drawing together ecclesiological and moral understandings of authenticity, he offers a resource for bishops, clergy and church members who are bewildered about where the church has got to. -- Oliver O’Donovan
The ripe full fruits of a lifetime of labour, devotion and critical reflection in the councils of the Christian Church, Paul Avis has now chosen to confront the state of the Church of England at large today. He has produced a tract for our times; free from conventional illusions, erudite and unsparingly honest, deeply anxious and still resolutely hopeful. Everybody who looks to the future of Anglicanism should read this eloquent, sincerely provocative book. -- Andrew Chandler
ISBN: 9780334066613
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
208 pages