Anglican Difficulties: A New Syllabus of Errors

by Edward Norman

In this new study Edward Norman examines the state of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, and argues that its patently ailing condition is not the consequence merely of a difference of view over major questions of belief and practice, but of problems intrinsic to its very nature. It is a book about about how Christian truth is validated, and the means by which the institutional Church can resist the intrusion of error into its understanding of faith. What Anglicanism notably lacks, he believes, is a coherent basis of authority, a doctrine of the Church itself. It has, in consequence - and despite its seeming traditionalism - more of the qualities of a religious society than of a Church, and this is due to imperfectly addressing fundamental questions about its source of authority at the time of the Reformation.

Genres: Theology

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Edward Robert Norman is an ecclesiastical historian and former Church of England priest. From 1999 to 2004, he was Canon Chancellor of York Minster. He was educated at Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he received an Open Scholarship.

Reviews

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

A takedown of the Church of England by a very grumpy Anglican cleric. I thought the first and end chapters were the most interesting, dealing with the C of E polity. There is a particularly rabid chapter on sexuality. The reason for my rating: (1) I don't agree with the author theologically so I didn't really like the book although it was a quick read and I only spent $1 for it, (2) he doesn't offer any solution to the perceived problems (or does he?), and (3) I gave it a second star because, in spite of all that, he writes well and mostly avoids ad hominem attacks, unless like most polemical books in the US (usually criticizing "liberals" and other such people who are "destroying America").

Spoiler alert: Wikipedia reports that the author was received into the Roman Catholic church.

[Brenda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm grateful to have finally finished reading this one! Admittedly, one does need to know one's British history and governance to adequately engage with this author's work -- and I likely have the minimum requirement for that purpose. I was surprised and disappointed by the absence of scholarly presentation; there are no sources, no references. This is a work of pure opinion on the part of the author, and is best read that way. While I can agree with some of the issues that he identifies, I cannot agree with much of his reasonings for the issues, nor of course with his suggested solutions.