Book Review: Deep Anglicanism by Gerald McDermott
Gerald McDermott, Deep Anglicanism: A Brief Guide. Nashotah House, 2024. 400 pp.
One takes notice when a new introduction to the Anglican Tradition appears, especially when written by a noted theologian within the tradition. Such is the case with Gerald McDermott’s Deep Anglicanism: A Brief Guide. McDermott has proven himself to be a notable scholarly voice as well as an accessible and eloquent writer. Indeed, he’s written many articles for Anglican Compass over the years. Therefore, when he releases a contribution to the myriad introductions to the Anglican tradition on the market, one quickly takes notice. In Deep Anglicanism, McDermott dives deep into his own vision of this tradition, rooted in the church’s broad history.
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I have nothing but praise for the book’s accessibility, yet can’t help but raise some caution about its theological particulars. While Deep Anglicanism succeeds most clearly as an engaging and substantial introduction, its very depth also reveals the limits of presenting a highly contestable stream of Anglican theology as the tradition’s center.
A Readable and Theologically Ambitious Introduction
One of the most striking features of McDermott’s volume is its immense readability. Despite being a primarily theological text, Deep Anglicanism captivates readers, making it a page-turner in the truest sense. It also has a devotional quality to its writing, serving as food for the heart as well as the mind. These aspects of the book will pique the interest of anyone wishing to learn more about our Anglican tradition, even those who may disagree with some of McDermott’s conclusions.
That readability does not come at the expense of substance. The book’s other striking feature is its theological depth, which is fitting considering the title. McDermott explores not just the whats and hows of Anglicanism, but also his particular reasoning for why. In many ways, he offers a well-articulated, holistic account, connecting Anglican traditions not only to Scripture, but also to the wider historic traditions of the Church.
A Strength and a Pitfall
That same theological depth, however, is where Deep Anglicanism becomes divisive. There is a great expanse of theological opinion amongst Anglicans, even on the nuances of what we have in common: Is Anglicanism Protestant? Catholic? Both? Neither? McDermott offers his own perspective with unusual confidence, venturing much further into disputed territory than most introductory guides. For this reason, readers with a grasp of the tradition will likely find themselves both heartily agreeing with and sharply disagreeing with him at various points.
McDermott’s roots are very evidently embedded in the theology of the medieval Church. Those who primarily root Anglicanism in its pre-Reformation history may resonate with McDermott’s more Anglo-Catholic theological leanings, particularly regarding apostolic succession, the nature and number of sacraments, and even (gasp!) purgation in the intermediate state. By contrast, readers who locate Anglican identity chiefly in the Reformation, the Elizabethan Settlement, and the Restoration under Charles II may find his account far less persuasive. At times, McDermott performs rather creative linguistic gymnastics to fit his theology within the still-extant constraints of the Reformation-era Anglican Formularies, while paying little heed to the original framers’ supporting writings for interpretive context.
For that reason, readers in the classic high church, low church, and evangelical streams of Anglicanism who root themselves in its core theology from the 16th to early 19th centuries may find McDermott often out of step with the tradition as still defined in the Formularies.
Editorial Shortcomings
The theological disagreements above are ultimately matters of historical interpretation and theological emphasis. A separate set of concerns involves the book’s presentation, where stronger editorial intervention would have made McDermott’s argument easier to follow even for readers sympathetic to his conclusions.
The work’s primary editorial shortcomings fall into two categories: lingering copyediting issues that affect the reading experience and broader structural looseness that occasionally pulls the book away from its stated purpose as a brief guide.
The first category consists of typos and punctuation issues, many of which were remedied in the second edition. One remaining issue is the double-spacing after periods, which is visually jarring at first. This has never been the norm in print publishing and only came into use with the advent of typewriters and fixed-width type. Because modern academic and publishing style guides discourage double-spacing in variable-width digital type, its presence here becomes especially noticeable when combined with the publisher’s more standard choice to justify the text block. The result is a pattern of visual gaps that interrupts the reading flow.
The second, more notable editorial issue is that much of the content needs to be tightened. McDermott goes on several theological excursions that, while interesting, feel tangential in a concise introduction to the Anglican tradition. The problem is not that these views should be excluded altogether, but that the book often tries too hard to cover every possible base, with particular space given to McDermott’s more colorful takes that often lie on the far edge of the Anglican theological mainstream. Such positions are worth noting when relevant, but extended treatment of them seems better suited to another context than a work presented as a “brief guide.”
Conclusion
Deep Anglicanism positions itself as a natural follow-up to the many entry-level overviews of Anglicanism; however, it defines, and at points redefines, the tradition through McDermott’s own theological particulars rather than through the longstanding statements of Anglican faith. For that reason, the book is most valuable when read as a deeply informed contribution to an ongoing Anglican conversation, not as a neutral map of the whole tradition. McDermott has presented an accessible and theologically robust guide, but one which should serve readers best when approached as an argument to engage rather than a settled, authoritative articulation of the Anglican way.
Image: Deep Anglicanism, © 2024 Nashotah House.
Review Roundup: Deep Anglicanism
While not without criticism, our reviewers found McDermott’s volume to be both accessible and deep. It brings the richness of Anglicanism’s deep history, including its ancient pre-Reformation roots, to bear on our beliefs and practices.
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