What is English Spirituality?
By The Rev. Matthew Dallman, ‘15
“The foundation of Christian life is the liturgy, seen as both Mass and Office, from which flows personal devotion based on the Bible.” So begins Martin Thornton’s description of a key characteristic of “English spirituality,” in his classic book of the same name. One’s spirituality — that is, total life responding to God’s creation — really is impacted in a particular way when liturgy is not an extra, added-on layer of devotion, but in fact a mode of living. That monastic life is an example of this may be obvious, yet English spirituality, whether it lives on British land, on American soil, or any of the continents around the planet, insists on the centrality of the same principle, because it is nothing less than the basis of the Book of Common Prayer.
So what is “English spirituality”? In addition to the characteristic already mentioned, at least five more can be considered. There is a speculative-affective synthesis, that is, a balance of intellect and action, head and feeling, study and wilderness, dogma and love: an inheritance from the monastic roots of Anglicanism. We also see an insistence on unity of the Church Militant, that is, a parish life that distrusts clericalism yet flourishes through a prayer life held in common by laity, priest, and bishop. There is a sober optimism toward the harshness of life’s trials, perhaps best expressed by Julian of Norwich’s “all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” There is the ideal of constant recollection of Christ’s presence, whether at home, in the pub, on the neighborhood streets or in an airplane flying across an ocean. And there is a need for spiritual direction, to grow through the stumbling blocks inherent in mature Christian life. Challenges to this spirituality include an over-reliance on “moderation in all things” and a legalist attitude to participation in parish life in response to the temptation to laxity in the face of discipleship.
Thus understood, “English spirituality” is one of the several dozen historical “schools,” or corporate patterns, of Christian life. It cannot be divorced from its British upbringing, any more than Our Lord Jesus can be seen apart from the Jewish culture of his day. A biological analogy may be useful, for just as the term “vine” actually means several dozen different varieties or strains, each that flourish according to conditions of environment and climate, yet because of diversity can all be seen to exhibit irreducible features of “vine-ness,” so is it with the holy Catholic Church of Christ and its varieties and strains. Christianity is an incarnational religion yet, amid variety, always points to the Cross. The life and health of any school of spirituality can come only from Jesus Christ and its obedient faithfulness to Him, and English spirituality is no different.
Martin Thornton’s book English Spirituality: An Outline of Ascetical Theology According to the English Pastoral Tradition is a primary text used in the Ascetical and Pastoral Theology courses taught at Nashotah House and highly recommended, but Thornton would insist it be supplemented by contemporary resources. A work of deep erudition and pastoral wisdom, the book captures the scope and theological depth of the full Anglican heritage, with its full quota of saints and doctors, and invites its rediscovery as a living spiritual tradition.
The Rev. Matthew C. Dallman, Obl.S.B. was ordained a deacon in the Diocese of Springfield on the Feast of Saint Barnabas (2016) at Saint Paul’s, Riverside (near Chicago), and a priest on the Feast of Saint Lucy (2016) at Saint Paul’s, Pekin. Fr. Dallman earned a Master of Arts in Liturgical Ministry at Chicago’s Catholic Theological Union and a Master in Theological Studies in Anglican Studies (Ascetical Theology) from Nashotah House. For four years he was a lay catechist for adult formation at Saint Paul’s, Riverside.
In July 2014, Father Dallman spent a month in England and Wales doing research for his master’s thesis on the theology of Martin Thornton, during which time he interviewed significant theologians, including Dr Rowan Williams, the retired Archbishop of Canterbury, and Sister Benedicta Ward. This experience kickstarted a side-project of his called Akenside Institute, which publishes resources to renew Catholic reality in Anglican parish life.