This volume contains nine stimulating essays on Anglican ecclesiology from Bruce Kaye, first published by Wipf and Stock in 2009 and now reissued by Lutterworth Press for a wider audience. His dominant theme is the need for patient and generous engagement in the way in which Anglicans do their theology.

Kaye's first plea is for a less institutional view of Anglican relationships. He warns against the current obsession with the four ‘Instruments of Communion’ which distort our understanding of Anglicanism by neglecting the many other informal ‘tentacles of attachment’ (p. 102) which bind dioceses and provinces together, such as mission organizations, publishers, scholarships and the Mothers’ Union. To give priority to episcopal structures and decrees, like Lambeth Conference resolutions, is to ignore the long Anglican tradition of local lay expression and dispersed theology. Kaye writes especially strongly against England's 1662 Act of Uniformity, with its coercion of religious conformity, ‘a pyrrhic victory politically, but something far worse ecclesiologically’ (p. 47). He urges those who wish for theological uniformity to learn from the unhappy history of the Church of England that ‘such an ambition is a snare’ (p. 83). The Windsor Report, with its recommendation of an enhanced role for the Archbishop of Canterbury, points to a shift away from pastoral authority towards the ‘presidentialization of power’ (p. 115) but Kaye insists that attempts to curtail dissent by central control are fatally flawed.

Kaye's second plea is for a less uniform view of Anglican theology. His ‘worst-case scenario’ (p. 170) is the emergence of rival institutions, such as the GAFCON Group and the Covenant Group, both claiming to represent ‘true’ and ‘historic’ Anglicanism. He is fiercely critical of the GAFCON claim that some Anglican provinces preach ‘a different gospel’, an attitude which he sees as entrenching conflict rather than a serious contribution to the Anglican conversation. Central to the book's thesis is the assumption that ever since apostolic times the Christian message has been diversely expressed according to locality and context, so it has never been univocal, but Kaye does not tackle the distinction between one universal gospel, expressed in different ways, and ‘different gospels’. He appears to suggest that the manner in which Anglicans handle their disagreements is more important as a testimony to Christ than what they actually conclude.

Kaye's analysis of the Anglican Covenant has dated more than his other chapters, rapidly overtaken by subsequent covenant drafts and debates. But this very out-datedness demonstrates the wisdom of not rushing. The book's most persuasive refrain is the exhortation for ‘a gospel sense of patience’ (p. 136) and the foolishness of imagining that major changes in worldwide Anglicanism, such as those envisaged by the Windsor Process, can be made in a hurry. Kaye calls for a renewal of ‘fallibility and modesty’ in Anglican debate (p. 166), and a recognition that today's generation are stewards of a long Anglican heritage, not its final arbiters. The author himself models the patient theological engagement he advocates, and his essays provide much rich food for reflection and further conversation.