Much has been written on law and grace: less on management and faith. But with the increasing commodifcation of belief, it is perhaps unsurprising to find a study on managing religion being marketed in the twenty-first century. The author is an Anglican priest, engaged in both parochial and sector ministry as well as being Senior Visiting Fellow in the Social Policy Department at the London School of Economics. His two-volume work ambitiously describes itself as ‘the first comprehensive discussion of the management of religious and faith-based organisations’. And, as with any pioneering publication, it wisely sets its own aims and objectives at the outset.

Care is taken to define terms. Not every reader, for example, would agree with the author's working definition of religious organisation as ‘an organization that has a gathering for worship as its main purpose’. Some might well consider mission, evangelism and social aid as co-extensive or even dominant purposes of religion: worship being but one facet ‒ albeit an important one – in the corporate life of faith communities. However, because of the clarity of the incremental teaching style which Torry adopts, nothing is lost in the meticulous progression of his argument.

In consequence, this is a more thorough and successful sourcebook than James Behrens' (Reference Behrens2014), although Torry's copious case studies lack the hands-on mundane practicality with which Behrens condescends to engage. Lofty theorising is worthy, but managing the routine and the bland is just as significant if God's vineyard is to flourish and bring forth fruit. The shrewd distinction which is constantly made between ‘religious organisations’ and ‘faith-based organisations’ sharpens the discussion, although there is a sense of artificiality sometimes due to the perceived overlap and mutual inter-relationship between the two.

Both volumes of this work – looking respectively at internal and external relationships – are surprisingly law-lite. The narrative would have been improved were Torry to have discussed the foundational legal documents which facilitate the internal operation of churches and give them the legal personality to engage with civic society more generally. The laws which churches make for themselves and the laws which the state enacts to regulate, to order and to liberate such churches should be at the centre of any work on managing religion. Here, as best, both sets of laws are consigned to the periphery. Greater prominence could have been given to the corpus iuris canonici of 1983, which provides a framework structure for the Latin Catholic Church embracing both high vaulted constitutional principles and detailed local administration. Similarly, the primary and secondary legislation which governs the Church of England could have provided a fertile source of illustrative material. The unique challenges for an established church in managing itself pursuant to laws which require the assent of the Queen in Parliament were barely touched on, and this was a missed opportunity.

Torry draws out certain key challenges which face voluntary organisations, not least pressures on funding. His commentary is particularly rich when confronting multiple secularisations (of ideas and of culture for example) but also the lessening of the significance of civic religion and the fact that believers are themselves becoming less religious. There seems something mildly prophetic in Torry's plea that the Church ‘will need to guard against the inappropriate employment of secular management theories and techniques’ (volume 2, p. 190). The nuanced depth of Torry's discussion is in sharp contrast to the blinkered brutality of the recent Green Report (Lord Green Steering Group, 2014). Torry recognises the partnership in mission of religious organisations which make them unsuited to the hierarchical leadership models of global conglomerates.

Some readers may find the management-speak unedifying. Others may find the emphasis on theory to be the wrong focus. But this would be to underestimate the case studies and practical examples which punctuate the text. For, in truth, this volume is a valuable resource to promote the constructive re-imagining of what it means to be an effective functioning religious organisation today. The author ably realises his hope for an enhanced literacy in the field, and achieves his aspiration that it will stimulate thought and discussion as to how secular management theory might impact upon making God made known through institutional human agency. In a curious way, these two volumes might usefully form the basis of a Lent course which is both educative and interactional. Traditionally, Lenten reflections travel inwards to the self and the soul. Occasionally we do well to adopt an alternative trajectory moving from the individual to the communitarian. So often discussion of management takes place solely amongst the upper echelons of any structural body. An animated dialogue at the grass roots level could prove transformative. These well-judged, balanced and carefully crafted books might provide the impetus and building blocks for doing so.

It is however a disturbing thought that after two millennia, it now takes a multi-volume scholarly work to explain, explore and enable the simple gospel imperative of Christ's gentle instruction to Peter: ‘feed my sheep’ (John 21:17).