"First published in 2002 by SCM Press. This paperback edition published in 2003". -- verso of t.-p.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
"The purpose of this book is twofold. It provides brief portraits of forty-eight bishops who were in office from about the time of the 1832 Reform Bill, when the Church of England as well as the nation as a whole entered a period of continuous change, until the final years of the twentieth century." -- Intro., p. [1].
Beeson "ends by asking why such able and interesting bishops are now in short supply and wonders whether the hectically busy managerial role assumed by the bishops of the new millennium represents a betrayal of the Episcopal office and a consequent weakening of the Church's witness in an incredibly secularized society. Looking not far ahead, the likely impact of women bishops is also discussed". -- back cover.
Contents: Acknowledgements / TB -- Introduction -- The aristocrats and the courtiers -- The scholars -- The statesmen -- The prophets -- The pastors -- The controversialists -- The headmasters -- The church reformers -- The social reformers -- The missionaries -- The evangelists -- The odd men out -- The pioneers : looking ahead -- Bibliography -- Index.
OTCH Note: The bishops described are in order of discussion: Edward Stuart Talbot, William Cecil, Charles Sumner, Cosmo Gordon Lang, Robin Woods, Connop Thirlwall, Joseph Barber Lightfoot, Mandell Creighton, Kenneth Kirk, Ian Ramsey, Archibald Campbell Tait, Randall Davidson, William Temple, George Bell, John Percival, Edward Lee Hicks, John A.T. Robinson, E.R. (Ted) Wickham, Edward King, William Walsham How, Edward Woods, Launcelot Fleming, Herbert Hensley Henson, Ernest William Barnes, Frederick Temple, George Ridding, Neville Gorton, Geoffrey Fisher, Edward Stanley, Charles James Blomfield, Samuel Wilberforce, Leslie Hunter, James Fraser, Brooke Foss Westcott, Charles Gore, George Augustus Selwyn, John William Colenso, Charles Mackenzie, Frank Weston, Joost de Blank, Arthur Foley Winnington-Ingram, Walter Carey, Christopher Chavasse, Cuthbert Bardsley, Henry Phillpotts, T.B. Strong, Mervyn Stockwood and Douglas Feaver.
This book "introduces us to the 232 men and women who are commemorated in the 'Common Worship' Calendar. Nearly five hundred years after the Reformation, the Church of England is coming to a fuller appreciation of the saints, and their contribution to our spiritual journey". -- back cover.
Contents: Introduction -- Abbreviations -- January -- February -- March -- April -- May -- June -- July -- August -- September -- October -- November -- December -- Appendix: Martyrologies and Calendars -- Index.
Entries arranged by month and day.
Colophon: Typeset by Regent Typesetting, London. Printed in Great Britain by Biddles Ltd, Guildford and King's Lynn.
"Copyright Community of the Glorious Ascension, 1976, 1987". -- verso of t.-p.
"First published 1976 in hardback by A.R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd, and in paperback by Lutterworth Press. This Revised Edition published 1987 by A.R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd, Saint Thomas House, Becket Street, Oxfod OX1 1SJ. Reprinted 1988". -- verso of t.-p.
"Forty-six modern saints are here, their stories told simply and directly. A brief prayer is suggested after each account" -- back cover.
Contents: Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Gladys May Aylward -- Ivan Illich Sergiev (John of Kronshtadt) -- Jim Elliott and Companion Martyrs -- Mary Mitchell Slessor -- Yona Kanamuzeyi -- Manche Masemula -- Cecile Isherwood, Peter Masiza -- Edward King -- Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy -- Oscar Arnulfo Romero -- Martin Luther King -- Pandita Ramabai -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer -- Gemma Galgani -- Toyohiko Kagawa -- Abdul Karim -- William Edwin Robert Sangster -- Thomas Walter Bako -- James Hudson Taylor -- Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (Pope John XXIII) -- Matthew Talbot -- Evelyn Underhill -- Peter Lee -- Boxer Martyrs in China -- Sundar Singh -- Florence Allshorn -- Maria Theresa, Countess Ledochowska -- Maria Goretti -- Ivan Vasilievich Moiseyev -- Andrew Kaguru -- Edith Stein -- Maximilian Kolbe -- John Leonard Wilson -- Giuseppe Melchiore Sarto (Pope Pius X) -- Simone Weil -- Vivian Frederick Barnes Redlich and the New Guinea Martyrs -- Martyrs in Turkey -- Winnie Letts -- Alfred Lionel Sadd and Companion Martyr -- Orthodox Confessors and Martyrs in Russia -- Anastassios Kephalas (Nectarios of Pentapolis) -- Chundra Lela -- Charles de Fourcauld -- John and Betty Stam, Margaret Morgan and Minka Hanskamp -- Ethel Tomkinson -- Francis Xavier Cabrini -- Index.
Includes many Anglican saints and martyrs from around the Communion including the churches of England, Japan, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, South Africa, South India and Uganda.
Author is a member of the Community of the Glorious Ascension, an Anglican religious order.