Edward Norman in his disturbing but accurate summary of contemporary "Anglicanism" and its plight (Anglican Difficulties: A New Syllabus of Errors, Morehouse, 2004) defines our problem as lack of authority. His is a devastating, and daily fulfilled, critique of a lumbering and collapsing, once credible, ecclesiastical entity. The book merits close and prayerful scrutiny. It is honest and irrefutable in its assessment of ailing "Anglicanism".

Neither is this discussion one that Feminists will appreciate. Their assertions and rhetoric represent a gender narrative that is so skewed as to be unrealistic and useless. Feminists cite patriarchy as a cause of oppression of women, and fail to recognize the ways in the patriarchal structure benefits and protects women. Consider how Boaz, a ruler of Bethlehem, offered protection to Ruth.

That the Reformation was a Continental phenomenon made it inevitable that religious change in the British Isles would be stirred, supported, and sustained by new tendencies emerging from within the Church of Rome and consequently rippling through Catholicism in England (and Scotland) until the tide of transformation became a surge.

The prolific Anglican pastor authored more than fifty books from the 1950s through 2010, spoke extensively around the world, and served as the "chief architect of the Lausanne Covenant." Crossing paths with larger-than-life figures ranging from Elizabeth II (as the Queen's Chaplain) to evangelist Billy Graham to minister Martyn Lloyd-Jones, he worked alongside some of the most important figures of his day.