Anglican Spirituality

By: Wolf, William J.

Book Overview

A part of the Anglican studies series, this is the second printing of this book with a 1982 copyight fromthe Episcopal Divinity School. The book deals with literature & contrition as they relae to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0819212970
• ISBN13: 9780819212979
• Release Date: January 1897
• Publisher: Morehouse Pub Co
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.5" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

A great spirit...

The Episcopal church in the twentieth century took advantage of the general availability of publishing to good advantage, compiling through several auspices different collections and teaching series, the latest of which was only completed a few years ago. One of the better of the 'unofficial' collections of teaching texts is the Anglican Studies Series by Morehouse press, put out in the 1980s, which comprise several volumes that look at different aspects - theology, spirituality, history, and more. This volume, 'Anglican Spirituality' by William Wolf (who edited another volume in this series, 'The Spirit of Anglicanism'), looks at spirituality in a liturgical context.Anglicanism is a fluid term, and spirituality is a fluid concept, so there is indeterminancy all around. This volume consists of eight essays, each of which deals with different aspects of the Anglican approach to spirituality. This can be via focus on a particular resource (the Book of Common Prayer and other literary resources, music, etc.), particular personalities (Thomas Traherne, John Donne, Richard Hooker, etc.), or theological aspects of spirituality. As Harvey Guthrie states in the first essay and John Skinner states in the final essay to this collection, Anglican spirituality is fully in accord with the overall incarnational ethos of Anglican liturgical expression and theological conviction. Anglican spirituality is rarely expressed and represented as a solitary in search of the otherworldly divine, but rather looks for communal expression and historical links. No one reading the sermons and poetry of John Donne or George Herbert can ever doubt a strong spirituality exists in Anglicanism. John Booty looks in particular at the spiritual expression in acts of contrition by the divines of the sixteenth and seventeenth century that expressed itself in poetry and prose, music and liturgy. Again, the communal and incarnational aspects are emphasised, as the acts of contrition are most commonly expressed in today's liturgy in the General Confession, a continuation of the church's tradition. Booty continues in a second essay his look at spirituality through to the twentieth century, looking particularly at the Oxford Movement and Evangelical movements in Anglicanism, as well as some careful attention to William Temple. Wolf himself adds an essay dealing in particular with the figure of Thomas Traherne, better known to general audiences as a poet, but who contributed much to the spiritual development of his time.Rounding out the collection are essays by David Siegenthaler, who does a general literature survey of Anglican Spirituality, exploring the broad range of authors and time periods (collections of Anglican Spirituality are increasingly available, containing much of the material discussed here); essays on the Book of Common Pryaer by Daniel Stevick, and an essay on music by Alastair Cassels-Brown. Cassels-Brown discusses Anglican chant, hymnody and hymnals, and th