Peter W.M. Blayney, The Printing and the Printers of The Book of Common Prayer, 1549–1561

Abstract

agency” (p. 3). Ours is a moment of “unraveling” where the logics and practices of modernity that shaped a vision of church leaders as experts, managers, and professionals has been exposed as insufficient and unreliable sources for moving forward. Although this unraveling began before COVID-19, the global pandemic has hastened and amplified an invitation to abandon the mechanisms of the Euro-Tribal church in favor of communities discerning and discovering the fermenting work of the Holy Spirit in their neighborhoods. Joining God in the Great Unraveling has the subtitle, Where We Are & What I’ve Learned. While it is a work focused on the question of how church leaders and congregations can join God in the places and with the people where the Spirit’s work is unfolding, it is told from the perspective of Roxburgh’s own theological journey with this question. Throughout the book, we are introduced to several “conversation partners,” which vary from Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, a sociologist and scholar who re-entered her indigenous North American context and discovered resurgence in the face of dispossession, to the Catholic, social theorist, Ivan Illich who challenges the hegemonic culture of technocratic modernity. These various dialog partners provide Roxburgh with metaphors and experiences that inform his vision of church life and leadership that is centered on practicing being with God and others through the ordinary rhythms of life while being open to how God is reweaving the life of the world in this season of disruption. What Beaumont and Roxburgh offer through their respective studies is practical and faithful wisdom for leaders and congregations in a particular moment of significant social and ecclesial reevaluation and reimaging. Neither seeks to package their vision as a set of solutions or new techniques. This will disappoint readers still in search of sure and certain ways to lead in a way that reflects the success of their favorite business or tech hero. Instead of solutions, as fellow travelers into new territory, Beaumont and Roxburgh draw widely and deeply on various traditions of thought and practice that can help equip readers with clearer sight when the way forward remains cloudy. So equipped, the prudent and wise leader replaces the tools of expertise and professionalism with a courageous trust grounded in the practices of listening and vulnerability that allow us to discern and join God in the emergence (Beaumont) and reweaving (Roxburgh) of our communities into communities of humility, patience, courage, and joy.