Table of Contents

The book is written in three sections: the first part, Death to Herbertism, examines the history and structure of the false pattern (which the author has christened 'Herbertism'): 1    Lin-Chi, the Curate and the Anglican Divine 2    "... how many live so unlike him now... "  3    "The only thing I don't run" 
4    The Cult of Nice 5    "A little soft around the edges" After such a grim account, the second section of the book, Herbertism Habilitated, begins to draw out a new conceptual framework for ministry, based upon a lecture given by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2004. The Archbishop suggested three biblical images, which are here developed: Witness, Watchman and Weaver. 6    +ABC and the 3 Ws 7    Witness 8    Watchman
9    Weaver
10   The KGH method
The final section of the book, The 'KGH' Method, becomes practical. The working out of the 3Ws requires a clear-sighted view of what is reasonable and unreasonable in parish ministry. The method is divided into five different pillars: Rule, Role, Responsibility, Reckoning and Reconciling.

Promotional Information

At a time of uncertainty for the Church, this robust challenge to an outmoded style of ministry offers realistic encouragement for the future.

About the Author

Justin Lewis-Anthony is Rector of St Stephen's Church, Canterbury, and Associate Lecturer in the European Cultures and Languages Section of the University of Kent at Canterbury. Formerly Precentor of Christ Church, Oxford, he has lectured, and led retreats, on film, popular culture and theology, and pastoralia in Canterbury, Oxford, Salisbury, London, Exeter, Chelmsford, St Albans, St Deiniol's Library, and North America. He is the author of Circles of Thorns and If You Meet George Herbert on the Road, Kill Him (both published by Continuum).

Reviews

"Justin Lewis-Anthony plumbs a plethora of sources...and deploys anecdotal evidence to pleasing effect." www.portsmouthcathedral.org.uk/documents/Sep09Newsletter.pdf

"...a well-informed account of Herbert in context...good to be reintroduced to the giants...full of good material...enjoys an attractive, opinionated style...has a gift for sharp anecdotes...presents a helpful range of authorities..." Church Times, September 2009

"What kept me reading was the skilful way in which the author used the writings of such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Michael Ramsey, Vincent Donovan and others to make his case." Baptist Times, September 2009

"Justin Lewis-Anthony's If you meet George Herbert on the Road, Kill Him is the latest and, no mean feat, by far the best. ... Justin's excellent book does not play this how-to game, although it does end up talking Turkey...This book is a vastly intelligent, compassionate, understanding and helpful resource." Bishop Alan's Blog, November 2009

'A very sympathetic [view] of Herbert's life and an appreciation of his verse. He also follows this with a a solid history of the clergy in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries' Parson & Parish, Summer 2010

"A witty, well-intentioned book. Behind its conclusions there are sophisticated analyses of any number of theological and sociological ideas"
*Catholic Herald*