One of the reasons some language of the Prayer Book is unintelligible to modern congregations is that the English language has changed over time. Some words have vanished from the English language in present use while others have been given new meanings different from those of the Prayer Book. New words have also been added to the vernacular.

As such, Anglicanism proper owes it origin firstly to the work of John Jewel and Richard Hooker, who defended the English Religious Settlement against both Roman and Puritan criticism, and secondly, to their "successors in the seventeenth century [who] did much, by their lives as well as by their [writings,] to give quality and strength to the Church of England and earned for the English clergy the title of stupor mundi, 'the wonder of the world.'

Now, much attention is being paid to the first public display of the so-called "Shroud of Turin," in Italy. As David Farley explained inUSA Today, "The Catholic Church's most famous (and infamous) holy relic is being exposed to the faithful for the first time since the year 2000. The Shroud of Turin, on display until May 23 in the handsome northwestern Italian town, can be shown by permission only from the pope."

I used to think like that. I don't any more, and would like to explain why not. Maybe the way my own thinking changed will be of use to other people, as they think through much the same questions today. My conviction that doctrine is of vital importance to the mission, ministry and spirituality of the church arose through several years sustained wrestling with the question of the relevance of doctrine. It is a conviction I adopted, not one I inherited.