Percy Dearmer Revisited: Discerning Authentically Anglican Liturgy in a Multicultural, Ecumenical, Twenty-First-Century Context

Product Description

As the worship of the Episcopal Church approaches a new period of renewal and innovation, important questions must be explored about what exactly does constitute an Anglican approach to liturgy. Simply doing what we have always done (or coming up with new and exciting ideas) will not suffice to nourish the people of God. It seems to be an appropriate time for a reclamation of the work and ideals of Percy Dearmer, noted liturgical scholar from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Though his work is often dismissed as “British Museum Religion,” the truth is that his “English Use” approach to liturgy contributed significantly to the growing Liturgical Movement in the Church of England. Further, the ideals of his work—often misunderstood—persist as worthwhile ideals in contemporary worship, offering a correction, perhaps, to some of our own practices. Authentically Anglican liturgy is still a goal worth pursuing—it is just a more difficult one than the setting up of riddle posts and the wearing of amices. By engaging in a careful reading of Dearmer’s work and identifying the nine ideals he used for Anglican liturgy, we will find our own approaches to worship enlivened and invited into greater truth, faithfulness, and beauty.

Review

“”Jared Cramer has done Anglicans a truly laudable service by introducing to new generations the absolutely singular figure of Percy Dearmer. It’s clear that Dearmer was a certain kind of prickly genius, and this volume allows us to see him resplendent in all his peculiarities and contradictions. Cramer allows Dearmer’s liturgical principles to probe us in our own practices, as we discern how the liturgy might best give glory to God in our own day.”” –Matthew S. C. Olver, Assistant Professor of Liturgics, Nashotah House Theological Seminary “”For those who think that Percy Dearmer’s work is primarily about riddel posts and appareled amices, Jared Cramer’s clear and insightful study provides a much-needed corrective. And for those who do not yet know Dearmer and his work, this introduction will whet your appetite for more. Cramer brings out of this treasure what is new as well as what is old, showing this nineteenth-century liturgist’s contemporary relevance for the twenty-first-century Episcopal Church and the questions we face today.”” –Jason A. Fout, Associate Professor of Anglican Theology, Bexley Seabury Seminary “”Cramer has provided a detailed, critical, but highly sympathetic reading of Percy Dearmer. Those interested in Anglican worship and Prayer Book renewal in our own time will find here much to reflect upon, engage, and consider.”” –J. Neil Alexander, Professor of Liturgy, University of the South

About the Author

Jared C. Cramer is a priest in the Episcopal Church and currently serves as the rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan. He is also the author of Safeguarded by Glory: Michael Ramsey’s Ecclesiology and the Struggles of Contemporary Anglicanism (2010).