Ministry in the Anglican Tradition from Henry VIII to 1900

Book excerpt: Once Henry VIII declared the Church of England free of papal control in the sixteenth century and the process of Reformation began, the Church of England rapidly developed a distinctive style of ministry that reflected the values and practices of the English people. In Ministry in the Anglican Tradition from Henry VIII to 1900, John L. Kater traces the complex process by which Anglican ministry evolved in dialogue with social and political changes in England and around the world. By the end of the Victorian period, ministry in the Anglican tradition had begun to take on the broad diversity we know today. This book explores the many ways in which laypeople, clergy, and missionaries in multiple settings and under various conditions have contributed to the emergence of a uniquely Anglican way of responding to the call to serve Christ and the world. That ministry preserved many of the insights of its Reformation ancestors and their heritage, even as it continued to respond to the new and often unfamiliar contexts it now calls home.