Authority lies at the very center of what it means to be called together in an ecclesial community and shapes how the Church understands its purpose and orders its activity. It can manifest itself as something owned and used by those in power, yet it is something fundamental to the entirety of Church life. However, while some polities exude authority in every pronouncement and every action, other ecclesiologies find it more difficult to locate and express authority, often needing a quest to explore and discover the authority that shapes the Church’s life. Focusing on the United Reformed Church in the United Kingdom, this book explores the particular shaping and bringing together that is a characteristic of a United and Reformed ecclesiology and examines how this influences ecclesial polity and practice. Matthew Prevett argues that authority in ecclesial life can be understood historically and empirically, drawing deeply from the well of tradition and history yet inspired by the social, political, and technological challenges of the twenty-first century.
Authority lies at the very center of what it means to be called together in an ecclesial community and shapes how the Church understands its purpose and orders its activity. It can manifest itself as something owned and used by those in power, yet it is something fundamental to the entirety of Church life. However, while some polities exude authority in every pronouncement and every action, other ecclesiologies find it more difficult to locate and express authority, often needing a quest to explore and discover the authority that shapes the Church's life. Focusing on the United Reformed Church in the United Kingdom, this book explores the particular shaping and bringing together that is a characteristic of a United and Reformed ecclesiology and examines how this influences ecclesial polity and practice. Matthew Prevett argues that authority in ecclesial life can be understood historically and empirically, drawing deeply from the well of tradition and history yet inspired by the social, political, and technological challenges of the twenty-first century.
I met Pryvett on New Year’s Eve 1999. He was an improbable personage. At first glance, Pryvett resembled a melted snowman, a shapeshifter stuck between two ambitious shapes, but he was, clearly, not to be underestimated. He was drinking beer and tequila and wine coolers and smoking a pipe. He was the friend of friends, and I never really caught the connection Pryvett had to them other than he had once “gamed” with them. As the night wore on and outrage after outrage poured out Pryvett, my wife asked me (as other girls in the room were asking their boyfriends), “Who is that guy?” To which a friend, still choking on his drink, laughing at the freshest mordant bon mot from Pryvett, croaked, “He’s the the love-child of Don Rickles and Andrew ‘Dice’ Clay!”
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