The book is more sharply focused than the title might indicate. Rowan Strong has written an important and well-argued study of Anglican ideas about empire. His discussion of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel has enabled him to revise a historiographical over-emphasis on Evangelical contributions to the development of British missions. He also shows convincingly how important Anglican theology was in the construction of ideas of empire from 1700. He explores not only English sources, but also looks at how they were replicated and modified in British North America, Bengal, Australia and New Zealand. The paradigm of imperial Anglicanism, which developed in the Antipodes, marked an important transition from the role of an established national Church to the largest denomination, one without special privileges. What is especially valuable about Strong's research is his account of how Anglican ecclesiology was affected by reflection on the Church of England's responsibilities both to the nation and to its empire. That in turn had an important impact on the construction of Britishness, as well as the development of imperial theology. SPG leaders were concerned not only for the salvation of the heathen, but also for the spiritual well-being of colonists, lest they sank into religious degeneracy. This narrative was modified by the emergence of self-governing Churches in Australia and New Zealand, but they continued to emphasise the themes related to Britain's God-given responsibility to Christianise its imperial posessions. Rowan Strong's study deserves to be widely read.