Phenomenal Sydney: Anglicans in a Time of Change, 1945-2013

by Marcia Cameron, Glenn Davies (Foreword)

The Diocese of Sydney is admired, hated, loved, and feared. While often criticized as no longer Anglican, it has at its heart an adherence to classic Anglicanism. While to some it is a beacon in the darkness, to others it is like a threatening bushfire. It is very large, very wealthy, and very influential in other places. Its opposition to ordaining women priests, and, in many parishes, to women preaching, mystifies and angers many Anglicans within and outside its boundaries. What makes this diocese such a phenomenon? The answer lies in its in the men and women who shaped it, in a particular view of the authority of the Bible, and in the influence wielded by some powerful institutions that have prospered. Its energy comes from the Scriptural mandate for to bring the outsider into the community of Christian people, but not to leave it there. To educate them in the knowledge of Christ in a variety of creative and imaginative ways. This book also looks at what Sydney has done badly. It may help readers to learn from its past achievements and its mistakes.

324 pages, Paperback

Published October 19, 2016

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. This was an excellent read. Cameron offers a scholarly, sympathetic and very readable account of the Sydney Anglican diocese during this time period (with a great chapter on the diocese prior to 1945 too). It was perhaps overly focused on the issues of women's ordination and women's ministry at times, but Cameron's particular views on these things didn't overly colour her otherwise great appreciation for the diocese as a whole. The breadth and depth of Cameron's coverage of the period is quite astounding. Such a good book, that has increased my thankfulness for this diocese, its unique expression of evangelical and reformed Anglicanism, and helped me to see more of the ways God has been at work in and through this diocese over the years.