The Anglican Communion encompasses a wide variety of traditions and expressions, from extremely liberal to very conservative, and from the Anglo-Catholic to the Evangelical. It's to this book's credit that editor William Wolf and his contributors acknowledge this diversity from the start, and admit that, as Harvey H. Guthrie begins his essay, 'What "Anglican" means is hard to define.'

The key to understanding Anglicanism lies in the Book of Common Prayer, and in the fact, as contributor John E. Booty writes, 'the Church of England [places] corporate worship, including sacraments, before doctrine.' Admittedly, this is precisely one of the major criticisms other denominations level at Anglicanism. But here it is celebrated as a distinctive.

I first read this book back when I was an Episcopalian, and was looking for a deeper understanding of my tradition's approach to spirituality. From that standpoint, this book's primary benefit -- apart from its comprehensive historical approach -- was in pointing me back to the Book of Common Prayer. 'Anglican Spirituality' is not a how-to handbook for Anglicans seeking spiritual insights. It can, however, place Anglican spirituality in its historical and theological context. I would recommend this as part of a program of reading, including the Book of Common Prayer and Holloway's 'The Anglican Tradition' (which I've also reviewed), but would be reluctant to encourage the relative neophyte -- as I was -- to use this book as his sole reference.

Failing to apply the lessons gathered over 2500 years of Western political philosophy and the 150 years of this nation's history prior to the Roosevelt regime, this book takes an incredibly biased view of the many deceitful actions taken by Roosevelt and his statist cronies during their underhanded and, unfortunately, successful efforts to initiate the transition of this nation from the minimal central government envisioned by our Founding Fathers to the current era of total government. This book is one for those who believe that the 50% of their income that is currently taken from them via direct and hidden taxes is simply "their fair share" of the financial burden caused by a bloated, inefficient, and incredibly intrusive but, to them, infinitely desirable central government.