Victorian Reformation: The Fight Over Idolatry in the Church of England, 1840-1860

by Dominic Janes

In early Victorian England there was intense interest in understanding the early Church as an inspiration for contemporary sanctity. This was manifested in a surge in archaeological inquiry and also in the construction of new churches using medieval models. Some Anglicans began to use a much more complicated form of ritual involving vestments, candles, and incense. This "Anglo-Catholic" movement was vehemently opposed by evangelicals and dissenters, who saw this as the vanguard of full-blown "popery." The disputed buildings, objects, and art works were regarded by one side as idolatrous and by the other as sacred and beautiful expressions of devotion. Dominic Janes seeks to understand the fierce passions that were unleashed by the contended practices and artifacts - passions that found expression in litigation, in rowdy demonstrations, and even in physical violence. During this period, Janes observes, the wider culture was preoccupied with the idea of pollution caused by
improper sexuality. The Anglo-Catholics had formulated a spiritual ethic that linked goodness and beauty. Their opponents saw this visual worship as dangerously sensual. In effect, this sacred material culture was seen as a sexual fetish. The origins of this understanding, Janes shows, lay in radical circles, often in the context of the production of anti-Catholic pornography which titillated with the contemplation of images of licentious priests, nuns, and monks.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 8, 2009

Reviews

[Harman · Rating 2 out of 5]

While there are moments of genius in exploring the psycho-socio-economic, political and theological context of the Anglo-Catholic movement and its opponents, Janes' methodology is quite eccentric. Heavily influenced by Freud and Marx, Janes takes a heavily biased reading of Victorian culture without illustrating whether or not his reading is justified. His insistence that the Victorian proclivity to classify and delineate societal boundaries was a projection (in the most thoroughly Freudian sense of the word) of their own sense of moral depravity was pervasive throughout the text without once substantiating a sense of moral depravity in Victorian society. As much as I would love to believe that the Victorian rejection of the sacramentality of the Anglo-Catholics was driven by an awareness that sacramentalism presents a critical alternative to commodification, Janes did not once substantiate this. Typical of Freudian mind games.
The ultimate irony is that it could easily be argued that Janes' own denunciation of the Victorians for their projected sexual fetishism is a projection of his own.