It is not always a good idea to read a book simply on the basis that the title grabbed you - however in this case it turned out ok. The idea that you should kill George Herbert is borrowed from the Zen saying "if you meet the Buddha on the Road Kill Him" and calls to light the tyranny that a 'hero' of the church like Herbert places over so many clergy, whose self-understanding framed largely by their failure to life up to the invented ideal.
As is often the case the first part of this book, where we deal with the 'problem' is the most engaging, with an examination of the actual life of Herbert and the evolution of priestly ministry within the Church of England until today, showing even Herbert didn't live up to the Herbertian ideal and even if the ideal was perhaps in the past achievable it is now neither achievable nor even desirable.
However Justin Lewis-Anthony must be commended because the following parts of the book that look at the alternative do hold their own and are also concrete and pragmatic - too often a writer brilliantly elucidates a problem but leaves you ask - "so what now?". By his own admission there is little genuinely 'radical' about what he puts forward, all of it is solid advice which one hopes is offered to clergy via various means. What we are given here is an orderly and accessible packaging of that advice - and I think this would be an excellent book for curates to read at the start of their third year, when the idealism of theological college has been knocked out of them but there is time to begin putting good habits in place to sustain them once they move on to an incumbency.
If I was to make one criticism - it is that Justin Lewis-Anthony in debunking Herbert point to the fact that he spend just 3 years in full time service of a Parish and so he could be seen as having only served in a 'honeymoon period' (although many would be jealous of this having found their own honeymoon period in a parish lasted slightly less time than the service of induction...) however he later sets great store in Bonhoeffer's work at the Finkenwalde seminary, yet this work lasted but 2 years before Nazi's closed it down, and so, like Herbert, it is just as problematic as a basis for sustaining the normal experience of long years of ministry.
If I was to make a second criticism it would be that at time the writing is very heavy on quotations, it has the feel that the work may have began as an academic thesis, and this slows the pace somewhat and results in you missing out on Justin Lewis-Anthony's distinctive voice, which when heard is rich and insightful.
Having complained about the number of quotes I will end we two that touched me:
"Some wise priest once said to me... I have no problem in believing in the Church Universal... or in the Church Triumphant, those faithful saints in heaven; it is the Church Militant that causes me difficulty"
Antine de Saint-Exupery (author of The Little Prince) "If you want to build a ship, don't summon people to buy wood, prepare tools, distribute jobs and organize the work, rather teach people the yearning for the wide, boundless ocean."
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