An overview of Anglican origins, beliefs and practices, setting the tradition in its global contexts.

Bruce Kaye was General Secretary of the Anglican Church of Australia from 1994 to 2004. He is a cosmopolitan scholar and priest who, after studying in Sydney and taking his doctorate in Basel, held a post in the Theology Department at the University of Durham in the UK for twelve years before returning to the University of New South Wales in Australia. His visiting fellowships include periods in Freiburg-im-Breisgau, Cambridge, and Seattle, and he is a regular visitor to North America. He is the author of eight books, editor of ten further volumes, and has written some sixty journal articles as well as contributing to newspapers, radio and TV. He is also the foundation editor of The Journal of Anglican Studies.

Introduction; Part I. Foundations: 1. The nature of the story as a tradition; 2. Forming an Anglican nation in England; 3. Forming Anglican churches around the world; Part II. Practices of Mission: 4. The practices of mission - changing outlooks; 5. Liturgical formation; 6. Patterns of engagement - political; 7. Patterns of engagement - relating to other traditions; 8. Influence, organisation and power in the church; 9. Ministerial offices - ordination; 10. Ministerial offices - ordination of women; 11. Ministerial offices - homosexuality and the public life of the church; Part III. Beliefs: 12. Beliefs - knowledge and authority in the conversation; 13. Beliefs: ecclesiology; 14. Beliefs: other themes in the contemporary agenda; 15. Afterword.