This book investigates how the Church of England functioned as a primary ideological architect in the construction and dissemination of British imperial identity between 1700 and 1850. Rowan Strong, a scholar of ecclesiastical history, utilizes extensive archival research and primary source documentation to argue that Anglican missionary efforts and institutional expansion were not merely peripheral to the British Empire but were central to defining the social and political identities of both the colonizers and the colonized across North America, India, Australia, and New Zealand.

Scholars recognize this work as a significant contribution to the intersection of religious and imperial history, noting the author's ability to synthesize complex ecclesiastical data with colonial political developments. Readers frequently highlight the text's academic rigor and its success in demonstrating the profound influence of Anglican thought on global British identity.