Reflection, reform and renewal are all themes appropriate to Lent, so it is not unfitting that for all the diversity of their topics and titles, the writers in this edition touch on all of three. But they do more than this too, for they also address the need to understand the heritage that is ours as people of the Prayer Book, from Baptism (Dunbar) and what we mean by tradition (Littlejohn), through to the importance of recollection in countering the forgetfulness which is at the root of that despair to which our secular culture may otherwise tempt us (Snook).

Dante is cited several times and is the subject of this edition’s latest Primer (Bayer), while the fascinating work of Jeremy Begbie is strongly commended in our column on Music and the Arts.

But perhaps the most challenging article for many to read is that of Archbishop Samy Alexandria. His Grace brings out very starkly the scale and force of the divisions and differences now driving the seemingly ineluctable division unfolding in the worldwide Anglican Communion. This prompted the urgent topic of the Endnotes – that will continue to be explored in future editions, namely, just what are the ties that bind we Anglicans together?