Current debates over a host of issues, including homosexuality, continually threaten to tear apart the 70-million-member Anglican Communion.

In this timely book two priest-scholars, Ephraim Radner and Philip Turner, examine the future of the concept of "communion" as a viable church structure, tracing its historical development as a self-conscious Anglican third way between Protestant congregationalism and Catholic centralism. In examining this essential issue, Radner and Turner relate the specific challenges of the U.S. Episcopal Church to the unity of the worldwide communion, touching on such divisive issues as the place of Scripture, liberal theology, and episcopal authority.

Compelling reading for Episcopalians and those in other traditions who are searching for a truly Christian approach to these thorny topics, "The Fate of Communion" is a forthright, direct examination of a church in turmoil.

An excerpt from the Circuit Rider review: "As United Methodists approach the General Conference of 2008, the reflections of Radner and Turner are helpful precisely because they arise out of a distinct (while related) tradition. The authors offer no particular prescription to our own denomination, and yet their arguments are pastorally sensitive and theologically grounded." (Click here to read the entire review.)