This book represents a project I have meant to finish for the whole of my working life. In the late 1960s, I read history at Cambridge and was introduced to the history of political thought, which has fascinated me ever since. I then did a second degree at Cambridge in theology, as part of my training for ordination in the Church of England. A little later I completed a doctorate under Stephen Sykes on Butler and Newman on moral agency and taught Christian ethics for three years at the University of Birmingham. I was then in my early thirties and intended to publish the thesis, as part of a contribution to the ‘origins of Anglican moral theology’. It is a sadness to me that those who taught me and then became colleagues did not live to see this book. I remember with great affection and deep respect Peter Baelz, Dan Hardy, Christopher Jones and Stephen Sykes, from whom I learnt so much. I hope this book is worthy of their original encouragement to write it.
However, my life turned out differently and I spent nearly twenty-five years, from 1982–2004, working as a theologian in industrial, social and political life, ending as the Church of England policy officer on Home Affairs (mental health and criminal justice). The close friendship of John Atherton, Chris Beales, Andrew Britton, Peter Stubley, David Skidmore and many colleagues from the Board for Social Responsibility saw me write a series of books on social ethics. It was a very fruitful period, lived out among the intensity of painful economic and political change. There were many industrial chaplains whom I met in steel works, coal mines, car plants and centres for the unemployed who influenced me deeply. Likewise, there were mental health and prison chaplains whom it was a privilege to work with.
Nevertheless, the original book never got written. It was not until I moved to Wales in 2004 to be Principal of St. Michael’s College, Llandaff that issues of Anglican identity returned with a vengeance. ‘What did it mean to be an Anglican in 2004?’ Ten years at the college meant many debates on that question with my colleagues. In 2011, I became a member of the Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), as a moral theologian, and I knew that the book could no longer be postponed. Sabbaticals at Cambridge University in 2011 as a Visiting Scholar and in 2014 at Durham University as Richardson Fellow gave me the chance to revisit the project, decades after I had meant to. I am grateful to many people who have encouraged me and read parts of the manuscript. In particular, I wish to thank the very helpful librarians at St. Michael’s College (Anna Williams) and Wales Evangelical School of Theology (Donald Mitchell), and the staff of the Rare Books collection in Cambridge University Library, who provided me with all of Perkins’ works in their first editions. I would also like to thank Pierke Bosschieter for her work in producing an index, Hester Higton for proofreading the manuscript, and Ingrid Heijckers-Velt as my editor at Brill. They made my life much easier.
There are many academics to whom I owe a great deal. Sarah Coakley and David Ford in Cambridge in 2011 said that the topic of the book was of great importance and provided great encouragement. Mark Clavier at St. Michael’s was equally passionate about Anglican identity, especially the Caroline Divines. Robert Song, Paul Murray (also my colleague on ARCIC) and the late Jo Cassidy in Durham were equally helpful. The first two chapters were read by Andrew Davison, Mike Higton, John Gibaut (Anglican Communion Director of Unity, Faith and Order), Alec Ryrie, Richard Roberts, Stephen Roberts and Vimal Tirimanna (also on ARCIC). I am very grateful to them all for their detailed comments and expertise. The searching comments of the anonymous, external reviewer were invaluable in helping me grasp the coherence of the book, and I am deeply indebted to that person. Most of all, however, I should express profound thanks and admiration to Paul Avis. I have known him for a long time, and he commissioned this book. No one has done more than him to establish the identity of Anglicanism, and no one could have been a better editor than he.
The book was completed in retirement, living in the vicarage of my wife’s Anglican parish in Cardiff. It is a very deprived area indeed, with much poverty and many social issues, but the spirit of the congregation is extraordinary. There is a real commitment to living out a Christian life as one of hope and joy in the midst of very difficult circumstances. The parish represents the essence of Welsh, Anglican, pastoral and incarnational ministry. My wife, Jan Gould, embodies that witness to the personal and communal transformation which the Christian life brings against all odds. For much love, patience and support, and for decades of inspirational ministry, she is the person in deep gratitude and love to whom this book is dedicated.