Book Review - The Anglican Way by Verney Johnstone

 The Anglican Way: a Plain Guide for the Intelligent Layman by Verney Johnstone

London: A.R. Mowbray & Co. Limited, 1948 (ninth impression 1961)

I love these kinds of books. Invariably published in England, they are a wonderful evocation of the English social order of pre- and post-war - working men who are keen to "improve" themselves, and being told how to do so by those in the upper middle class. That these sort of books were very popular is in no doubt - first published in 1948, this particular title had reached a ninth impression by the time my copy was printed in 1961.

The Anglican Way is written by a former Canon of the Church, and is a wonderfully crisp evocation of what it means to be an Anglican as opposed to a Roman Catholic or a Non-Conformist Protestant. As Johnstone points out, the Anglican Church is actually a Catholic Church more than it is a Protestant Church, although it does have space for those who find the trappings of Roman Catholicism too much. While Johnstone doesn't delve too deeply into Church history, as this book is meant as a guide for the current practicing Anglican of his time, he does have succinct explanations of why and how the Anglican faith has developed in the way it has.

The heart of this book is a guide to how to be a good practicing Anglican. Johnstone explains that it is the Book of Common Prayer that guides the worship of Anglicans. Much of The Anglican Way is concerned with the text of the book (both the 1662 and 1928 versions), and how the worshiper should interact with it. Johnstone certainly has his own view on the best form of Anglicanism - certainly more to the Anglo-Catholic than the "Low" Church, and a great lover of the austerity of much of the texts. He would certainly be horrified with a lot of current Anglican practice, even in the "High" Church.

This book, written about 70 years ago, prefers an Anglican that attends Morning and Evening prayer perhaps more than the Sunday Communion, one who prepares for services by meditating on the scriptures before attending, one who doesn't substitute "personal fancy for corporate duty in the national attitude to religion" and any other things that "militate against Sunday church-going." He certainly doesn't like a priest who gives the Church notices before the Homily!

While this book is obviously out-of-date as a guide to worship, and almost laughingly pompous and out-of-tune with the current day, I found it a useful guide to the structure of the Book of Common Prayer - why it is set out the way it is, and why there is so little about remembering the dead, among other things. I picked up this book for fifty cents in an op-shop, and realistically that is all it is worth. However it did give me a few hours of enjoyment and education.

Cheers for now, from

A View Over the Bell