Title: Parochial vision : the future of the English parish /
Authors: Spencer, Nick, 1973-
Publisher: Paternoster Press,
Year: 2004
Subjects: England Church history.
Abstract: The English parish is in a state of crisis. Ideally suited to the static, agricultural, hierarchical society in which it developed, it has become a severe impediment to the Church's work today. It needs to change. In this fascinating and insightful book, Nick Spencer explores the parish's past, present and future. He shows that rather than being synonymous with English Christianity, the parish was a comparatively late arrival on the scene, and one whose main roots were economic and social rather than ecclesiastical. He goes on to explain why the parish is now singularly inappropriate for modern ministry, before proposing a genuine alternative based on the system of Anglo-Saxon minster churches out of which parishes grew.--Cover page 4.
Contents: Introduction : The petrified church -- The rise and fall of the English parish -- Crushed by our own heritage -- The minster church -- The return to minster churches : Social reasons -- The return to minster churches : Ecclesiastical reasons -- The return to minster churches : Historical reasons -- Going back for the future.