This is a very useful book and has some pertinent points for Anglicans to consider. The book has its origins in courses given by the author at Regent College in Vancouver and in engagements further afield. Paul Williams is CEO of the Bible Society in London with previous experience in business in London. It is a background that gives point to his arguments in this book. The argument of the book is that the cultural character of Western societies has changed dramatically. That change has meant that the entire institutional infrastructure of the church and the assumptions that underlie it are outmoded and, further, the culture is now not merely pagan but is pagan with an anti-Christian flavour.

Part 1 sets out a picture of how Christians live or might live in the contemporary world. Two heritages play a role in influencing this picture: the enlightenment with its secular rationality and what he calls the Christendom mind set. The portrayal of the enlightenment mostly follows the view that it was a coherent and connected movement which has rather been overtaken by the work of historians like Hugh MacLeod. The distinction is not fatal to the argument by any means but it would give the argument more precision and effect in different national traditions. The appeal to the Christendom mind set is especially germane for Anglicans who were for nearly a thousand years part of the English Christendom.

The second and third part of this book are the most useful. Part 2 provides a sustained argument about how to respond to the present cultural situation of Christians. The third part contains some very suggestive ways of approaching the way in which the growing distinction between Western culture and Christianity might be handled. Language, stories and translation make this a coherent and helpful way into this crisis. There seem to me to be a number of qualifications to the argument of the book. I am not so sure that the overall narrative provided by the Bible is quite as coherent as Williams assumes or sufficiently coherent in enough detail to be as straightforwardly useful as he says. He introduces the idea of ‘scripture’ in relation to the biblical texts as if that notion is part of the stories in those text. But despite the best efforts of Brevard Childs and some others this is hard to sustain in the light of the actual texts themselves or the history of the development of the idea of a canon nor the ambiguity left by the history of its contents. However, there is a curious absence of any serious consideration of power. In the prologue Williams declares that almost the entire institutional infrastructure of the church and the assumptions that underlie it are now outmoded. But crucial to the operation and experience of that infrastructure is power. The background of Anglicanism in the Christendom mind set makes this a central challenge. Williams is a very helpful guide to dealing with the present condition of the church and makes valuable suggestions to respond to this. There is much here for Anglicans to learn. But Anglicans, more than most, must engage with the issue of power and their institutionality.