What makes prayer valid? For the poet, T.S. Eliot, there is something more, something that is sometimes unnoticed, but which, if realized, can reanimate prayer life. This brief essay unfolds in three steps: (1) pointing to the contemplative influence of Eliot's conversion to the Church of England; (2) depicting the seventeenth-century Little Gidding lay-monastic community as the definitive influence on Eliot's final quartet; and (3) unpacking six interrelated prayer-revitalizing insights from a passage in ‘Little Gidding’, practices that help make prayer valid.

How should Anglicans regard other religions? The approaches of a number of Anglican writers considered in this article are valuable, both to Anglicans and to others, beginning with F.D. Maurice in the late nineteenth century. Others include Kenneth Cragg, an Arabist and Evangelical; Alan Race, author of the Exclusivist, Inclusivist, and Pluralist paradigm; Kwok Pui-Lan, a contemporary Asian feminist; Ian S. Markham, who proposes a ‘Theology of Engagement’; Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury and an important writer on the theology of Raimon Panikkar; David F. Ford, proponent of the Cambridge Scriptural Reasoning (SR) program that seeks ‘better quality disagreement’; and Keith Ward, whose systematic theology develops a concept of ‘convergent spirituality’. Moving from the theoretical to the practical, the article discusses the global United Religions Initiative of William E. Swing, former Episcopal Bishop of California. Collectively, these authors provide a range of intersecting Anglican approaches to the evolving question of Anglican relations with other world religions.

Throughout much of church history Christians have prayed for the dead. Historical, liturgical and pastoral contexts suggest that, while Anglicans may pray for the continual growth of the faithful departed, we have seldom prayed for advancement from purgatory or deliverance from hell. In this paper I defend all three, noting where my argument departs from and intersects with historic Anglican positions. I offer an outline of theology from the perspective of death, arguing that prayer for all the departed is one aspect of a tightly knit web of doctrines including theology proper, creation, salvation and consummation. Petitions for all the dead are not inconsequential. Instead, the final destiny of human persons raise the most basic of theological questions, matters which go to the center of God's purpose in creating spiritual beings and redeeming sinful humankind.

From 1908 to 1922, Oswin Boys Bull (1882–1971) had the primary responsibility for supervising the recruitment of African youth and students into the South African SCA and YMCA. Following the lead of overseas sojourners Luther Wishard and Donald Fraser in 1895 and John R. Mott and Ruth Rouse in 1906, Bull took his experience as a Jesus College, Cambridge classics and theology major and sportsperson into the challenging religious, racial and ethnic field of the Union of South Africa. Bringing a mix of strong spiritual roots and an unwavering commitment to the racially inclusive interpretation of Christianity, Bull blazed a trail that earned him the reputation of a pioneer ecumenist.

Ably assisted by illustrious Xhosa-speaking intellectual and seasoned Christian proselytizer John Knox Bokwe, Bull made inroads into areas previously ignored by his predecessors. With a reach extending as far as neighboring historic Basutoland, Bull's efforts resulted in the establishment of branch associations in a variety of rural and urban locations. In spite of local opposition and tremendous geographical, linguistic, social and political barriers, Bull applied himself to the task of providing a firm foundation for Black and Mixed Race SCA and YMCA members to find places in previously lily-white bodies.

Understanding both his limits as well as his capabilities, Bull's generosity allowed him to share the spotlight with other evangelists. His correspondence with YMCA leader John Mott demonstrates a humble willingness to see the task of ‘nonwhite’ inclusion in SCA and YMCA work to the end. By the time Max Yergan, the first permanent YMCA and SCA secretary arrived in South Africa early in 1922, Bull was able to delegate most of the duties that required a field secretary to him, satisfied that he could concentrate on the remainder of his managerial duties from the YMCA and SCA center, in Cape Town and Stellenbosch, respectively. Already fluent in Afrikaans, Bull's history of attempting to build bridges between competing and often hostile populations set the standard for the type of leadership that a complex, extremely ethnically and religiously particularistic society like South Africa would need to construct a broadly based national movement.

Although O.B. Bull is known only to readers of Alan Paton's Hofmeyr, and those involved in the institutions with which he was associated, most notably, St Edmunds School, Jesus College, Cambridge, the Scriptural Union and the South African SCA and YMCA, it may now be possible for later generations to revisit the times in which he lived and worked to regain a sense of the odds against which he struggled and the resolve he showed in striving first to dream of and then fight for a more inclusive Southern African YMCA.

While he was by no means perfect and was clearly himself a product of his place and time, his quests for something better within himself and his adopted country were noble.

In the last several decades, the religious landscape in Nigeria has been transformed by the rise of neo-Pentecostal or ‘new generation’ churches. These churches teach a gospel of prosperity, advance an oppositional view of the world, focus on a supernatural arena of spiritual forces, accord a unique weight to the Bible, and practice a charismatic worship style. One result of the presence of these churches has been to change the face of Anglicanism in Nigeria. Concerned about the possibility of diminished influence and prestige, the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) has responded to neo-Pentecostal churches by adopting more of its rivals’ beliefs and practices. This paper argues that this changing environment explains, in part, Nigerian opposition to efforts at global Anglican unity and argues that it is impossible to address the future of the Anglican Communion without first understanding the on-the-ground religious context in Nigeria.