Book of Homilies

by The Church of England, John Griffiths (Editor)

The Book of Homilies contains the authorized sermons of the Church of England. Originally published in two volumes during the reigns of Edward VI and Elizabeth I, the homilies were intended to provide for the Church a new model of simplified topical preaching, as well as to perpetuate the theology of the English Reformation.

Genres: Nonfiction, Theology, Christian

716 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

The roots of the Church of England go back to the time of the Roman Empire when Christianity entered the Roman province of Britain. Through the influences of St Alban, St Illtud, St Ninian, St Patrick and, later, St Augustine, St Aidan and St Cuthbert, the Church of England developed, acknowledging the authority of the Pope until the Reformation in the 16th century.

The religious settlement that eventually emerged in the reign of Elizabeth I gave the Church of England the distinctive identity that it has retained to this day. It resulted in a Church that consciously retained a large amount of continuity with the Church of the Patristic and Medieval periods in terms of its use of the catholic creeds, its pattern of ministry, its buildings and aspects of its liturgy, but which also embodied Protestant insights in its theology and in the overall shape of its liturgical practice. The way that this is often expressed is by saying that the Church of England is both 'catholic and reformed.'

The changes that have taken place in the Church of England over the centuries have been many and various. What has remained constant, however, has been the Church's commitment to the faith 'uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds,' its maintenance of the traditional three fold order of ministry, and its determination to bring the grace of God to the whole nation through word and sacrament in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Reviews

[Scott Meadows · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important primary source looking into the state of reformational Anglicanism and the doctrines as interpreted by the Book of Common Prayer. Sometimes very Catholic, sometimes very Puritan. You can feel the tension between authors at times. Excellent resource!

[Andy Dollahite · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is generally top shelf stuff. Richly theological. Soaked in scripture. Hard hitting with the best of manners. Richly pragmatic and doxological. Better than probably 99.8% of “exegetical” sermons preached today. I wouldn’t object one iota if most pastors “plagiarized” these.

[Brittany Petruzzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

If every pastor and rector in the English-seaking west would take a break from writing their own sermons and preach these—word for word, even—the church would find herself blessed by necessary words, long avoided. Cranmer even gives us an entire homily on why beating your wife is a wicked offense to Christ. These are all topical sermons, so it might give the Presbyterians the willies, but they should get over it. Lots of succinct and boldly-worded declarations about justification, sanctification, and your own favorite doctines, I'm sure. Bonus points: the series on civil obedience ends with a homily naming the Pope as the most terrible rebel of them all.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Anglicans really are the Via Media. I wondered if reading this might finally shed some light on some of the thornier disputes in Anglican theology. While the Homilies do stake out some definite positions on controversial topics, you won't find any secret systematic theology here. Indeed, a lot of the Homilies are welcomely practical - a guide to holy day-to-day living. We learn what sins to avoid, what virtues to cultivate. The more theological sermons tend to have something of a pan-Protestant flavor to them. As a Baptist, I did find places I flat out disagreed with, but I'm still glad I read this collection, and I would say that any Anglican congregation could do a lot, lot, lot worse than to preach through the entirety of the two books. There's plenty here that's perhaps a bit too simplistic, but there's plenty of other parts which are commonsense wisdom just about completely lost nowadays. Modern day Christians really do need to hear sermons against rebellion, for example.

[Ben Lansing]

Faith alone. Christ alone. Authentic, historic Anglican doctrine. “Saint Hilary saith these words plainly in the ninth canon upon Matthew: ‘Faith only justifieth.’ And Saint Basil, a Greek author, writeth thus: ‘This is a perfect and whole rejoicing in God when a man avaunteth not himself for his own righteousness, but knowledgeth himself to lack true justice and righteousness, and to be justified by the only faith in Christ.”