I highly recommend this book for one of the most reasonable approaches I have read to date on solving the vexing problem of Anglican identity. (See my post here about Middleton's address to the recent International Catholic Congress of Anglicans.) I will take the lazy man's way of answering why I believe it's such an important book by quoting the review at Amazon by Fr. Charles Erlandson, pointing specifically to his comments about Middelton's take on the English Reformation:
Anyone who has been following the fate and fortunes of Anglicanism in recent years knows that Anglicanism, like much of the Church, is in a profound crisis. This crisis is largely an identity crisis: Anglicans don't know who they are anymore. In "Fathers and Anglicans," Canon Arthur Middleton, Emeritus Canon of Durham (and who served the Church of England in many other official capacities), provides some clarity on Anglican identity.
As a point of reference, I'm a priest in the Reformed Episcopal Church who has his Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Lancaster University. The topic of my Ph.D. dissertation was the identity of Anglicanism. I had a chance in 2006 to meet and talk with Canon Middleton in Durham, at which time we discussed some of the ideas expressed in this book. I discovered that Canon Middleton is very knowledgeable and passionate about the topic of this book.
Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, writes in the Foreward to "Fathers and Anglicans" that "Anglican self-understanding and self-respect is at a low ebb." One of the antidotes to the identity crisis that Anglicanism is now experiencing is for Anglicans to renew their understanding of the "patristic mind." In "Fathers and Anglicans," therefore, Middleton argues that the way forward for Anglicans is the re-capture the fundamental synthesis of perspective that characterized the ancient, undivided Church. For Middleton, the way to accomplish this is to return to the Church Fathers and seek the patristic mind. Throughout, he argues that in Anglicanism Protestantism is, ultimately, a quest for catholicity.
Middleton's thesis is presented largely in a chronological way, and a list of the sections and chapters will help the reader get the big picture of what Middleton is hoping to achieve.
Part One: Fathers And Reformers
1. An Ecclesiastical Mind
2. Fathers and Reform in John Jewel and Thomas Cranmer
3. Fathers and Formularies
4. The Patristic Spirit of Reform
Part Two: Fathers and Carolines
5. Successors and Builders
6. Richard Hooker and the Puritans
7. Lancelot Andrewes and the Roman Catholics
8. William Laud and the Calvinists
9. The Laudians and Henry Hammond
10. Literature and Laudians
Part Three: Objections and Responses
11. Direct Objections and Responses
12. Indirect Objections and Responses
Part Four: Rediscovering the Fathers
13. Fathers and Tractarians
14. Redeeming the Present
Since the period of the English Reformation is particularly important for understanding Anglican identity, including contemporary Anglican identity, and since an understanding of the theology and mind of the Reformers is often a contested thing, Middleton's discussion of the patristic argument in the Reformers is especially critical. For Cranmer and Jewel (the two English Reformers Middleton deals with), "Scripture is the supreme standard of faith, but the Fathers represent the tradition of the Church by which Scripture has been interpreted correctly." This is possibly the most important sentence in the entire book, and it lies at the heart of Middleton's thesis.
Middleton continues his argument by demonstrating the essentially patristic character of the Church of England's Formularies, including The Canons of 1571 and 1603, The Thirty-nine Articles, the Book of Homilies, and the Book of Common Prayer. He sustains his argument with great consistency in the remainder of his historical presentation so that the reader is left with the definite impression of the abiding importance of the Church Fathers to Anglican thought.
In the final chapter, Middleton applies his historical thesis on the Anglican understanding of the Fathers as normative interpreters of Scripture and the Christian faith to the present. He finds a return to the patristic mind an antidote to what he calls "the cult of the new" and argues for "renovation" over "innovation."
While Middleton's argument may at times leave out Anglican voices that haven't made such direct appeals to the Church Fathers, "Fathers and Anglicans" clearly illustrates the importance of the Fathers to an Anglican interpretation of Scripture, as well as to Anglican self-understanding. While his is a minority voice, it is a critical one that deserves to be heard if Anglicanism is to re-discover its identity and renew its life as a vital Christian tradition.
I also recommend Middleton's much briefer book, "Restoring the Anglican Mind," in which he argues many of the same points without the wealth of historical evidence (for those for whom this may not be desirable) but with what is in some ways a clearer focus.