Vale Bishop Colin Buchanan

Those interested in Anglican Studies and particularly liturgical studies would know that Bishop Colin Buchanan died recently. Colin was well known to many Anglicans and members of other traditions across the world as an outstanding liturgical scholar. His own work over many years was extraordinary. Colin was well known through his writings, attendance at conferences and through the friendship he offered others. Colin’s work on Anglican liturgical development is a gold mine of material and insight and will serve for many years as a definitive resource. Colin and I were good friends although we came from different traditions in Anglicanism. This never seemed to matter in friendship and in discussion of liturgy. I met him at conferences of Societas Liturgica, and he assisted me with primary resources in one of my recent book publications on the Anglican Eucharist in the Anglican Church of Australia. Colin also wrote a very generous review of this book in JAS. The resources Colin shared were not previously published or in the common domain, and so these were vital and highly prized in relation to liturgical development in the Anglican Church of Australia. Colin shared the first-hand resources freely with plenty of commentary. I always appreciated Colin’s friendship and willingness to share and offer thoughtful responses. Readers of The Journal of Anglican Studies will know that Colin published often in the Journal, both research articles and book reviews, and in fact, one of his last published works is in this edition of the Journal. It is entitled ‘Anglican Confirmation: An Unfinished Business’. The Anglican world owes Colin Buchanan a great debt of gratitude for his life, ministry and academic work. May he rest in peace.