The Anglican Communion has announced that it has been supplying theological colleges in Asia and Africa with key resources and books in the field of Anglican Studies.
The resources drive by the Anglican Church’s Theological Education Working Party (TEAC) has been made possible by generous grants from a number of members of the Compass Rose Society.
The purpose of the grants has been to enable students training for Anglican Ministry in theological colleges with limited library resources, to have greater access to books which will provide an overview of Anglican history, liturgy and spirituality.
At present the grants received have already enabled resources to be sent to six theological colleges across Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Pakistan, Mauritius, Kenya and Malaysia. It is now hoped that similar sets of resources can now be sent to at least another 10 colleges before the end of 2006.
Clare Amos, the Director of Theological Studies, who is administering the book grants on behalf of TEAC said, “The books we are being enabled to send as a result of the kindness of Compass Rose members will make a considerable difference to the resources available in these colleges for the teaching of Anglican studies.
“The books chosen are based as far as possible on the booklist constructed by the ‘Anglican Way’ group of TEAC, as well as a few key books which have been published during the last year. My next task is to try and ensure that we do not neglect the needs of Anglican seminaries in francophone, Spanish - speaking and lusophone Provinces.”
Amos concluded, “We are looking in to the possibility of organising and facilitating the translation of one or two of these key books into French, Spanish and Portuguese.
“These book grants are an excellent example of the way in which a comparatively small sum of money, judiciously targeted, can make a big impact on the life of the churches in our Communion.”