Dr Martin Davie is a lay Anglican theologian who was for thirteen years theological consultant to the Church of England's House of Bishops and theological secretary to its Council for Christian Unity. He is currently theological consultant to the Church of England Evangelical Council, a fellow of the Latimer Trust and the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life, and Assistant Lecturer in Christian Doctrine at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford.
"""Defend, O Lord provides an excellent introduction to the practice of confirmation as it is understood in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. Martin Davie supplies a concise and clear summary of the background to the confirmation service, its liturgical development, and the theology that underlies it. There is also a very helpful commentary on the text, and insightful answers to questions that arise about the practice of confirmation. It is a very readable book by a scholar who has mastered the material and made it accessible to a wide audience. I recommend it wholeheartedly."" - Justyn Terry, Wycliffe College, Vice Principal and Academic Dean ""I wish I had been given a book like this when I became a bishop. Martin explains the meaning of the service in a way helpful to the enquiring candidate and superbly offers to overstretched clergy (and bishops) the reasons why attention to the Prayer Book will resource and shape discipleship making now. I hope his updating of the Book of Common Prayer service will be included as an alternative to that in Common Worship. May many be blessed in their reading of this book who come to confirmation and lay on hands after the manner of the apostles."" - Keith Sinclair, Church of England Evangelical Council, National Director"