Book Review: Maiden, Mother and Queen by Roger Greenacre
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Roger Greenacre, Maiden, Mother and Queen: Mary in the Anglican Tradition. ed. Colin Podmore. Westminster John Knox Press, 2013. 224 pp.
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Rarely have I read a book that has touched on so many aspects of the season we are currently embodying as a church. At the time I am writing, we approach the commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s conception on December 8 and the upcoming reflection on the Annunciation, which is a significant theme of the Fourth Sunday of Advent. We are also on the heels of a monumental pontifical refusal to title Mary as co-redemptrix and of a public recitation of the Nicene Creed in English by the Pope alongside the Archbishop of Constantinople, with the filioque notably absent. Together, this makes all the topics in Roger Greenacre’s life and ministry so poignantly relevant to the ponderings of the hearts of the faithful here in this moment, as we shift from anticipation of Christ’s second coming to anticipation of his first coming.
Maiden, Mother, & Queen: Mary in the Anglican Tradition is an editorial compilation of works and homilies by the Rev. Canon Dr. Roger Greenacre (1931–2011), a leading Anglican ecumenist and liturgical scholar. Educated at Clare College, Cambridge, he served as Chaplain of St George’s, Paris, and later as a Residentiary Canon of Chichester Cathedral. A key figure in Anglican–Roman Catholic relations, he chaired major ecumenical committees, contributed to the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), and served on the General Synod and the Liturgical Commission. He was honored as an Officer of the French Order of Merit and awarded a Lambeth DD. Central to his scholarship was a deep commitment to Marian theology and devotion within the Anglican tradition, which he believed could serve as a bridge toward closer unity among Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox churches.
Mariology for Anglicans?
Though Greenacre’s work focused on unity among Churches with common Apostolic Roots, this editorial clearly focuses on Anglicans, encouraging all of us to have clarity about arguably one of the most significant figures in Holy Scripture apart from Christ himself. The book, divided into four parts, begins with a biography of Greenacre by the editor and eulogies from peers who spoke at funerals and requiems following his death.
The second of four parts introduces Greenacre’s teachings through his homilies on the Blessed Virgin Mary and one on Saint Joseph, preparing the reader for the final two parts of the book and inviting them to note and reflect on the repeated themes and phrases throughout his homilies.
Part three is the most distinctively Anglican, and likewise the focal point of this book’s scope. Beginning in the Middle Ages, various hymns to Mary appeared in the Divine Office (the precursor to Morning and Evening Prayer), and the Hail Mary and the rosary became fixtures of popular devotion. Greenacre paints the Marian devotions as clearly reformed, but not entirely eradicated, during the English Reformation, with evident vestiges of Marian theology in various collects and feastal readings of the Book of Common Prayer. He incorporates Marian devotion, specifically the Rosary, into the broader discussion of intercession of the saints within the Anglican Tradition since the Reformation.
Greenacre then introduces the reader to Mark Frank (1613-1664), an English priest who wrote several sermons centered around Mary during the reigns of Charles I and Charles II. Greenacres points to a long period of silence on Mary from the reign of William and Mary to the beginning of the Tractarian movement, but with evident Marian devotion present throughout cathedrals, colleges, and chapels in England from the reign of Henry VIII until Cromwell, and then returning under Charles II. With John Keble (1792-1866) leading the resourcement of Marian devotion from an Anglican perspective clearly divorced from the Medieval superstitions which muddied prior generations, there has been a clear movement to recover the reverence due to Christ’s mother without the Roman Catholic baggage.
The fourth and final part of the book presents five papers and sermons that specifically address the obstacles to unity between Rome and the Anglicans regarding the theology of Mary. This part highlights the joint statements of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC). It engages with the issues they raise for Anglicans and Roman Catholics alike, while addressing the limitations and the work remaining for future ecumenical dialogue.
Mary Before and After the English Reformation
While Greenacre’s works offer ecumenically minded Christians hope for the future unity of Christ’s Church, the editor carefully constructed them as a primer of Mariology from an Anglican perspective since the Reformation. Many Anglo-Catholic-minded Anglicans might like to see Roger’s engagement with more of the pre-Reformation Church. However, this work intentionally limits the scope of English Christianity since the Reformation and its interaction with topics and practices specifically pertinent to Roman-Anglican dialogue.
This work should therefore better inform those in the evangelical camp about the diversity of Catholic practice throughout Anglicanism since the Reformation, while likewise reassuring them that there are still clear lines between Roman Catholic and Anglican understandings of Mary. For Anglo-Catholics, it should embolden us to continue in our devotion to the saints, but especially to Mary, as we discover theological reflections which, though new to some of us, still feel very familiar to our thoughts and practice.
Throughout the book, we also see frequent recognition of the sea of changes that have accompanied all parts of Western Christianity since the 1960s, with Rome and Anglicanism seemingly moving not further apart, but gradually closer as both seek a scriptural and patristic witness for what we believe and confess about Mary. Upon completion of this book, one finds it hard to disagree with Greenacre’s assessment of the legacy of all the work done by ARCIC, which he himself quoted from a former co-chairman of ARCIC:
ARCIC has been able to build firm columns across the chasm which separates our two communions. Nothing can destroy these columns, even if the day has not yet come to construct on these columns the viaduct which will reunite us in full communion.
Debates and Divisions over Mary
Despite this, a noticeable chasm still exists separating Christ’s body. This should encourage us to continue praying for the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth and goodness, lamenting that the mother of Jesus has become such a point of contention for unity, and recognizing that we need humility in pursuing unity, not simply joint statements by like-minded Christians from various communions.
Finally, this book has caused me to reflect on the current state of Anglicanism following the 2025 Sydney Statement, where clear disunity of faith and practice has left many of us trying (with much difficulty) to define what makes Anglicanism Anglican. Reading Greenacre in this context reveals just how differently Mary is received across our own tradition: while his retrieval of medieval devotion, patristic titles, and Walsingham-shaped spirituality will resonate deeply with Anglo-Catholics, Reformed, and Low Church Anglicans may find his approach difficult, if not alien, to their reading of Scripture, the Articles, and the Reformers. These divergences underscore how far apart our “camps” can be, especially on matters of doctrine and devotion that touch the heart of Christian piety.
This crisis of identity, as we re-center the communion around the Jerusalem Declaration issued by GAFCON in 2008, should challenge us to look not only at the teachings and practices of our favorite Anglicans, but also at those of the various other “camps” of Anglicans.
The Servant of the Lord
In conclusion, I heartily commend this book, edited by Colin Podmore, to any Anglican seeking to deepen understanding, not only exposure to, Marian devotions from an Anglican perspective. Even if Roman Catholic Dialogue on the topic piques little interest, Parts 1-3 of the book could be read and published independently for the edification of Anglicans, the glory of Christ, and the increasing reverence of his beloved Mother. Also, we can draw a natural conclusion to this book at the end of part 3, which cohesively summarizes Greenacre’s lifelong work. Most practically, this book could provide helpful guideposts for Anglicans to participate in fruitful conversations with their brothers and sisters from the Roman and Orthodox communions.
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