Abstract
Gorringe is a well-known figure among British theologians. His published research has focused on the interface between theology, ethics, politics and culture, which might make this foray into liturgy seem somewhat surprising. Gorringe is also, however, a priest in the Church of England, committed to regular ministry in a rural parish, and this is a book in which the professor and the pastor come together.
It is structured in three parts. The first, ‘Times and seasons’, traces in broad historical outline the development of different ways of ordering and thinking about time. The longest and central part of the book, ‘The Christian year’, takes the reader on the familiar cycle from Advent to All Saints. The third, ‘Remembering’, unites reflection on the celebration of individuals in the Church’s calendar with concluding meditations on ‘redeeming the time’.
Two aspects of the author’s approach stand out, in comparison with the mainstream of liturgical writing. The first is Gorringe’s combination of two things not always associated: an evident love for the liturgical year and advocacy of its lasting power to form the Church to fulfil its calling; and a constant interrogation of any restriction of that calling to the sphere of institutional religion or ‘spiritual’ experience detached from everyday life. For Gorringe, at the heart of the story in which the liturgical year should anchor us is God’s redemption as something to be known and embraced within human history, which cannot be limited to the life of the Church or those identifying as Christians. He uses the term ‘hominization’ to sum up God’s purposes in Christ: everything that contributes to the realization of true humanity flows into their fulfilment. Ched Myers informs his approach to many biblical texts, while Boff, Moltmann and Barth recur as theological interlocutors.
The other notable feature of the book is its willingness to propose significant innovations within the inherited framework of the liturgical year (it is perhaps worth saying that the Church of England’s calendar for Common Worship provides the point of departure throughout the second and third parts). Gorringe argues, for instance, that All Saints should mark the end of the Church’s year, so that it can begin with an extended season of Advent. He recommends that ‘ordinary time’ be recast as ‘ministry time’, with an explicit focus on the ministry of Jesus in the Gospels as material that is no less essential for understanding his person and work than the accounts of his birth, death and resurrection. Gorringe includes his own lectionary for Sundays in the ‘creation season’ adopted by the World Council of Churches in 2016, and he makes the case for new martyrs, activists and poets to be added to the current calendar.
Ministers and members of churches where the liturgical year is observed with devotion may expect to find both enrichment and provocation in reading this book. Ministers and members of churches where it is not but who are deeply committed to social justice may find themselves challenged to reconsider its abiding value.