Reformed and Catholic

Synopsis: A respected lecturer and author, the Rev. Dr. Peter Toon (1939-2009) was born in Yorkshire, England, and graduated from King's College, University of London. Ordained a priest in the Church of England in 1973, he taught theology in both England and America, and was a visiting professor and guest lecturer at a variety of seminaries and universities in Asia, Europe, and Australia. Through his engagement in debates about all matters Anglican, he became the foremost exponent of "the Anglican Way," a path both Reformed and Catholic. A self-identified evangelical, he brought an evangelical fervor to his love of the church and the gospel, and he has influenced a generation of priests around the world. This volume of essays, collected in his honor, furthers the work that Dr. Toon started, defending the continuing importance of the theology of the English Reformation and Anglican worship. Essays included discuss Thomas Cranmer, the Book of Common Prayer, the Thirty-Nine Articles, and the legacy of Dom Gregory Dix. The authors include Roger Beckwith, Bryan Spinks, Rudolph Heinze, Joan Lockwood O'Donovan, Gillis Harp, Graham Eglington, and Ian Robinson. Endorsements: "Toon's contribution to the understanding of Anglicanism is hard to exaggerate . . . His courageous and scholarly work evoked much unpopularity for several decades, but it now enjoys deserved and widely acknowledged acceptance. His writings in the last days, while he was struggling with a debilitating disease, have been an indelible encouragement to many. I count myself as one deeply grateful, not only for his scholarly contributions, but his inspiring faith." --C. FitzSimons Allison, 12th Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina "Anglicanism is not another flavor of liberal Protestantism, nor merely a via media between Protestantism and Catholicism, or an open-ended range of beliefs from Puritanism to Anglo-Catholicism. The essays in this book disclose confessional Anglicanism growing out of conservative Reformation, a theology formed by worshipping with the Book of Common Prayer." --Gene Edward Veith, Patrick Henry College "Produced by the Prayer Book Society in honor of Peter Toon, its recently deceased, long-serving president, this collection of essays is as feisty, insightful, and formed by Anglican doctrine and worship as was the man himself. While the Episcopal Church wanders through a self-confessed time in the wilderness, those looking for solid joys and lasting treasures will find here thoughtful encouragement for recovering the unique witness of historic Anglicanism's reformed and catholic Christianity." --Ashley Null, Humboldt University of Berlin "Toon once made the trenchant observation, 'just as ancient Israel was set by God to be a light to the nations, so I see the Anglican Communion of Churches set by God, in the midst of all the churches, to be a light--providing a luminous example of simultaneous commitment to the gospel and to catholicity.' This truly excellent collection of essays, contributed by a distinguished company of Anglican scholars, pays a fitting tribute to Toon's profound dedication to the Anglican way. This book deserves a broad readership." --Torrance Kirby, McGill University Author Biography: Roberta L. Bayer is Assistant Professor of Government at Patrick Henry College, Purcellville, Virginia. She currently edits the Anglican Way, the magazine of the Prayer Book Society of the United States.