Anglo-Catholic in Religion: T.S. Eliot and Christianity - Softcover

Barry Spurr

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0718830733 ISBN 13: 9780718830731

Publisher: Lutterworth Press, 2010

Synopsis

A definitive study of Eliot's Anglo-Catholic belief and practice exploring how the poet's religion shaped his life and work for almost forty years until his death in 1965. Spurr characterises Eliot's formal adoption of Anglo-Catholicism, in 1927, as the culmination of his intellectual, cultural, artistic, spiritual and personal development to that point and then demonstrates how Anglo-Catholic doctrinal, devotional and social principles influenced the subsequent life, thought and writing (in poetry, drama and prose) of one of the greatest poets and thinkers of the twentieth century. Barry Spurr is Associate Professor of English Literature at the University of Sydney. He has published extensively on Renaissance and Modernist poetry, religious literature and liturgical language. He is the author of books on studying poetry, Lytton Strachey's prose, poetry about the Virgin Mary, and Anglican and Roman Catholic liturgical language reform. 'A much-awaited, very welcome and timely book.' - Ronald Schuchard, Emory University 'An elegant, lucid, and meticulously researched exposition of the specific nature and history of Anglo-Catholicism.' - Manju Jain, University of Delhi 'An important and necessary book: powerfully and persuasively argued, richly informative.' - Jason Harding, Durham University 'Barry Spurr's ' "Anglo-Catholic in Religion": T.S. Eliot and Christianity' is by far the best study of its formidable subject: erudite, in full command of the detail, and in every respect honorable. Much and properly indebted to Eliot's correspondence with Mary Trevelyan, the book brings forward remarkably cogent and persuasive materials on Eliot's belief and his daily practices as a Christian. The "sequence which culminates in faith" has never been so clarified, even if we allow - as we should - for the darknesses of doubt and weariness in Eliot's life. On themes with which we are more-or-less familiar, such as the Unitarianism of Eliot's family, Irving Babbitt's Humanism, Harvard's Pragmatism, Bergson's Bergsonism, Bradley's Idealism, the English mystics - Spurr presents more aspects of these than one would have thought possible. His commentaries on "Journey of the Magi" and later devotional poems are endlessly perceptive and far-reaching. I thought I knew "Ash-Wednesday" well; but on the evidence of Spurr's researches, not well enough. The book is a most notable achievement.' - Denis Donoghue, New York University

About this title

Product Description:

xiii 325p paperback, a fresh copy, clean, firm binding, in excellent condition, like new

Review:

'Spurr takes us on a wonderful journey to discover the byways, varieties, glories and contradictions of a brand of Anglicanism' --Times Literary Supplement, January 9, 2011 'Spurr's book is comprehensively excellent on the nature and history of twentieth century Anglo-Catholicism'; --The Glass, Spring 2011 'the historical detail of Spurr's study that makes it essential reading for anyone interested in the sources of Eliot's religious belief and practice.' --Commonweal, November 5, 2010 'TS Eliot certainly needs contextualising as a 20th century religious and specifically Anglo-Catholic poet...Spurr's superb study certainly succeeds in this respect.' --The Melbourne Anglican, November 2010 'the reader finishes with a wish to go back to the writing itself - a compliment to a specialised and closely organised survey such as this.' --The Expository Times, October 2010 'Spurr has produced a scholarly and engaging book that sharpens and defines our understanding of Eliot's relationship with Christianity.' --Journal of Religious History, June, 2011 'Eliot once said, 'I believe that all our problems turn out ultimately to be a religious problem' (p.175). Spurr demonstrates convincingly that Eliot believed what he said and also believed that his version of Anglicanism offered the best solution to those problems. Spurr's lucid, well-researched, judicious book should be prized by anyone who wants a better understanding of Eliot's complex religious views and the profound influence they had on his writings.' --Henry Hart, Anglican Theological Review, Vol 93:3 'Anglo-Catholic in Religion': T. S. Eliot and Christianity is a detailed and informative study [...] Spurr examines and elucidates 'the genesis, development and character of Eliot's Christianity and concludes that we cannot fully appreciate Eliot's work 'until we have learnt of his faith, the ground of his being.' --Jeremy Diaper, Modernist Cultures, Vol 6, No 1, May 2011. `There can be no doubt about it...this study of T.S. Eliot and Christianity by Barry Spurr is quite the best book on the man and his work that has yet appeared.' --Peter Milward, The Heythrop Journal, vol 52, issue 6, Nov 2011 Much has been said about Eliot's religion, and sometimes by scholars who are sympathetic to his belief, but what has been lacking is a comprehensive explanation of Anglo-Catholic history, doctrine, practice, and culture. That need is now met by Barry Spurr's 'Anglo-Catholic in Religion': T. S. Eliot and Christianity, and it is hard to imagine that anyone could have done this essential work better. The book is very welcome indeed...Having described Eliot's religious milieu, Spurr is able to explicate many of his writings in new and convincing ways...This is the kind of book that stimulates further work rather than foreclosing it. --Ben Lockerd in 'Time Present' No. 73

'Spurr attends patiently to the specificities of the Anglo-Catholic movement as they inform Eliot's work - aspects that scholars have tended to ignore or misunderstand.... With aplomb, Spurr makes the comparatively subtle differences between Anglo-Catholicism in its early-twentieth-century heyday and contemporary Protestantism, Anglicanism, and Catholicism visible.... The later narrative chapters are invaluable.... Spurr offers a vivid portrait of Eliot's devotional life...[his] most compelling point may be his account of the emphasis of Anglo-Catholic devotion.... Having established Eliot as a poet of the incarnation, Spurr descends into brilliant readings of 'Ash-Wednesday', The Rock, and Murder in the Cathedral, revealing their peculiar dependence on Anglo-Catholic practice. --John Xiros Cooper in Journal of Historical Biography Vol.9

Spurr s book is comprehensively excellent on the nature and history of twentieth century Anglo-Catholicism, on Eliot s reputation as an Anglo-Catholic, his observance of its practices, his associations within Anglo-Catholic circles, and its expressions in his creative work... [...] Spurr s study elucidates the history of Anglo-Catholicism, its differences from Roman Catholicism and from Protestant traditions. --Roger Kojeckż, The Glass, Number 23, Spring 2011

About this edition

• Publisher: Lutterworth Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0718830733
• ISBN 13: 9780718830731
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 340