Dressing for Worship: A Fresh Look at What Christians Wear in Church
Grove Books have a well deserved reputation for providing
high quality and accessible material which enriches the life of the Church by
encouraging thoughtful engagement in key issues among the general reader.
Andrew Atherstone’s Clergy Robes and Mission Priorities can
therefore only be understood as the exception that proves the rule. His starting point is that Clergy Robes are a
barrier to Mission,
however he advances no evidence to substantiate this. Instead this is an unremitting tirade against
the rules of the Church of England based on the assumption that those who
uphold these rules are backward, blinkered, and ignorant.
Dick Hines’ Dressing for Worship, which is amongst Andrew
Atherstone’s bibliography, is a much more worthy offering. It is a useful foundation for considering the
position of the Church of England on clergy dress, acknowledging the deep tradition
of giving clergy distinctive outfits and the many positive arguments in favour
of the retention of this practice. It
does also give space for consideration of the down side of this practice and
the reasons why some feel that the obligation on clergy to robe should be
removed.
No comments:
Post a Comment