Church Matters: Essays and Addresses on Ecclesial Belonging
by Scott Cowdell who is Adjunct Research Professor in Theology at Charles Sturt University, Canberra, and Canon Theologian of the Canberra-Goulburn Anglican Diocese.
Review by The Rev'd. Dr John Littleton, January 2023.
Church Matters is a treasure trove of rich resource and wise insight gifted to us by Scott Cowdell, an Australian Anglican Professional Theologian, a former Principal of St Barnabas’ Anglican Theological College, Adelaide, 1998-2002.
All disciples and ministers of the Christian Church will find food for thought in this impressive publication: everyday disciples, parish and diocesan leader disciples, deacon disciples, priest disciples, and bishop disciples; all the baptised; including ‘every stripe of Anglicanism’, Evangelical, Anglo-Catholic, Broad Church, and Fresh Expressions (Pages 153-158); those interested in the important vocation and role of the professional theologian in The Anglican Church of Australia (191, 227); and those who have left or are thinking about leaving the church (61-74).
Church Matters is easy to read, accessible, wide ranging in the topics, short chapters revealing depth of thought and reflections well resourced; with a colourful, people-centred cover....
The topic of ecumenism surfaces during these well-crafted Essays and Addresses. The undivided nature of the earliest churches is mentioned often (161,167, 171, 184, 209). ‘Acceptable canonical diversity emerges in the New Testament period’ (231). References from other church traditions are used. High praise is given in Chapter 10 to the Church of the Apostles, Seattle, USA, ‘which is an eleven-year old joint Episcopalian-Lutheran congregation’ where the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church ‘are in full communion, which allows mutual recognition of ministries, joint ordinations, Eucharistic hospitality, etc’ (174-177)....
Church Matters is a must purchase for serious readers of theology, and an essential addition to Parish, Public, Theological College and University Libraries. Thank you, Scott, for enhancing the critical and dialogical role of a professional theologian and theology within the Anglican Church of Australia and beyond, through these significant and valued Essays and Addresses on Ecclesial Belonging.
Download the full review: pdf Cowdell Book Review by Rev'd Dr John Littleton January 2023 (136 KB)
For more information please visit John Littleton www.tjhlittleton.com
Scott Cowdell, Church Matters: Essays and Addresses on Ecclesial Belonging(Bayswater, Victoria, Australia 3153: Coventry Press, 2022). 238 pages, Paperback $34.95, Preface and 15 Chapters: occasional pieces taken from the period 1996- 2021. Foreword by Hugh Mackay. |
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One of the loveliest things about this creative and courageous collection is the opportunity it gives us to see a formidable intellect and a human personality evolving over a 25-year period. Hugh Mackay AO
Scott Cowdell’s aim is ‘to keep the Church and the Eucharist at the heart of Christian life and imagination’. He does this as a thoroughly well educated, urbane Anglican, open to the good influence of other faith traditions and ever attentive to the many fine fruits of secularisation in contemporary Australia. … He’s real and he is good company on the page. - Fr Frank Brennan SJ AO, Newman College, The University of Melbourne |
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