For sometime now I've been interested in Anglican theology but was slow to investigate my interest. So when the opportunity to review The Heritage of Anglican Theology by J. I. Packer appeared, I jumped at the chance. Who better to explore and explain the history of the Anglican church than by J.I. Packer?
Almost immediately I was drawn into the web of Anglican history, the good and the bad, the ebb and flow, and the main players down through time. Beginning in the early 1500's, Packer takes us all the way through today's current standing in the Anglican church. As with any theological persuasion or denomination, there is both the bad and the good, the mainstream and the fringe, the conservative and the liberal. Theology and worship, true worship of God, can be messy and so it was in Anglican history.
The writing style was most pleasant; an easy read. Complex terms and ideas are explained for the unfamiliar with Anglicanism. Of course, the worship of God, church history, and theology never operate in a vacuum. When, and it was often necessary, British history, culture, and politics are explained. Though this was a work on Anglican history, Packer always explained the correct method of worship and Biblical understanding.
To get a flavor of of the book, below is a list of chapter titles

1 Taking the Measure of the Anglican Mainstream

2 The English Reformation

3 Puritan Theology

4 Richard Hooker

5 The Caroline Divines

6 Rational Divinity

7 Revival Theology

8 The Oxford Movement and Anglo-Catholicism

9 Nineteenth-Century Broad Church Theology

10 Anglican Modernism

11 Early Twentieth-Century Anglican Theology

12 Concluding Thoughts on Anglican Theology

Afterword: Further Thoughts on the Anglican Concept of Doctrine

Recommended Reading

Index

Overall the reader will get a thorough understanding of the state of Anglicanism both past and present.

I would give this five out of five stars! Excellent book. I enjoyed it thoroughly. ( )