A Treasury of Anglican Art

—James B. Simpson, George H. Eatman

A beautiful collection by Eatman and Simpson (the same James B. Simpson — now regrettably deceased — who also wrote, inter alia, a biography of Archbishop Michael Ramsey during his lifetime, and books (with Edward Story) on two gatherings of the Lambeth Conference, the decennial meeting of the world's Anglican bishops.). A Treasury of Anglican Art is great as a gift for a clergyman and/or as a coffee table book.

Merrily On High: An Anglo-Catholic Memoir

—Colin Stephenson

This is a wonderfully diverting read — sort of like a literary spa day for the heavy-laden Anglican!

"Widely regarded as one of the most amusing ecclesiastical memoirs of the 20th century, Colin Stephenson's autobiography is a classic, embodying a great love for the Anglo-Catholic tradition of the Church, a delight in its people and a relish for their eccentricities and foibles," says the back cover of the Canterbury Press printing of Merrily on High.

"The heady peaks of Tractarian glories" in the Church of England between the wars decidedly shaped Stephenson's preferences. "Young and impressionable, he reveled in the rich ceremonial of continental Catholicism in all its triumphal self-assurance. As an inexperienced naval chaplain in the Second World War, he set about installing baroque altars on warships, despite the 'violent firmness' with which certain admirals and captains reacted. Such encounters delighted him and many stories in this entertaining volume are told against himself.

"After the war, and despite serious injury, he returned to Oxford and created the 'highest church in the city,' before succeeding Alfred Hope Patten as Guardian of the Shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham, where he found plenty to satisfy his appetite for the more colorful aspects of high Anglicanism." Stephenson was Guardian of Walsingham from 1959 until his death in 1973. Merrily on High was first published in 1972.

"'It may be a trivial record,' Stephenson wrote of his memoir, 'but I hope it is illuminated by love and I think I have made myself as ridiculous as anyone.'"

As it turns out, though, Stephenson's book, while amusing, is also not trivial. Seen through today's lenses, it becomes a lively historic account of a key expression of Anglicanism that is now under pressure from a rising liberal ascendancy in the church — one that has shown a declining interest in ensuring a continued place for the catholic witness. Hundreds of Anglo-Catholics felt compelled to leave the C of E after the church approved women priests in 1992, some 20 years after Stephenson's death, but many more stayed as a result of special provisions the English Church made in 1993. Today, though, as the C of E considers admitting women bishops, Anglo-Catholics find less readiness among church leaders and legislators to make adequate provision for them and — especially after an expanded welcome from Rome — are considering their options.

Yet, while Merrily on High may be seen against this sobering backdrop, it remains, more than anything, a delightful read that delivers to battle-weary, 21^st century Anglicans a rich and welcome dose of laughter and refreshment.