Here is a unique and timely guide to a critical debate within Anglicanism that will run until 2009.  

In response to the very real threat of schism in the Anglican Communion, the Lambeth Commission on Communion 2004 published the Windsor Report which proposed the worldwide adoption of a Covenant – an agreement to be entered into by all Anglican churches to regulate their relationships and reduce the likelihood of conflict in the future. The Covenant is currently being debated by the 44 autonomous churches that make up the Anglican Communion and their responses will be incorporated into a revised draft which will be discussed at the Lambeth Conference in July 2008. A final draft will be put to the vote in 2009.       

This book sets out offers a practical, simple and introductory guide to the idea of a Covenant, its theological context and legal implications, the arguments for and against it. It aims to give a voice to ordinary Anglicans who will be contributing to this debate in local synods everywhere.

NORMAN DOE is Professor of Law at the University of Wales, Cardiff and a specialist in canon law. Since 2002 he has been a Consultant to the Anglican Communion Legal Advisers Network and was a member of the Lambeth Commission Steering Party which drafted the Windsor Report and the Covenant.