The First Book of Homilies: The Church of England's Official Sermons in Modern English

by Lee Gatiss

The Homilies were originally published in 1547, to help reform and renew the Church of England in the biblical faith of the Reformation. This series of sermons was written to enable often rather uneducated ministers, teach and explain the essence of the Christian faith from the pulpits of the land. They unfold the doctrines of scripture, sin, salvation, and Christian living with clarity and verve. This is what makes returning to the Homilies-now, for the first time, updated in modern English-such an invigorating and life-giving thing to do today.

Genres: Theology

202 pages, Paperback

Published August 31, 2021

About the author

Dr Lee Gatiss is the Director of Church Society and has served in several Anglican churches. He teaches church history at Wales Evangelical School of Theology and in Cambridge where he lives with his wife, Kerry, and their three children. He is the author / editor of about a dozen books, including For Us and For Our Salvation, and The NIV Proclamation Bible.

Reviews

[Marty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Timeless sermons on various theological issues, very readable in the modern english. The historic doctrine of Anglicanism is clearly reformed and protestant in its character from these homilies.

[Samuel Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essential literature of the Anglican Church, it feels very clearly that this was written at a particular moment in time. Cranmer’s homilies are often rich and filled with scripture but often times equally rigid in their scriptural interpretation (Similar to JC Ryle).

I was also struck by (as someone who is relatively inclined to Union with Rome) the degree vitriol towards the Catholic Church. Cranmer is writing after the reformation I suppose after all.

Nonetheless, an excellent read.

[Mel Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

We used this book for Sunday school for a little over half a year. When Gatiss says in the intro that this is not meant to be a critical edition, believe him.
I bought the books sight unseen after listening to Gatiss's interview on the Crossway podcast. He said there, as he says in his introduction, that he 'lightly edited' the homilies. This is an understatement. Every generic he or him has been changed to they, even where such change causes confusion or grammatical complication. Subtitles are generally useful but occasionally rather shocking and not really very relevant, as for example, "don't feed the trolls" (p180). Between the two editing choices one might conclude that Gatiss is a bit too concerned about being hip or culturally relevant. I do appreciate his noting of Biblical, apocryphal, and other sources of quotations. But in case it's unclear, my view of his choices as editor is decidedly mixed.

As for the source content, these are basically sound sermons. There was the most debate about Homily 11 Adultery and Sexual Sin, including Cranmer's assertion that the flood was due to sexual immorality (based on the much-disputed Genesis 6 Nephilim passage) and the conflation of fornication and adultery. But the following and concluding chapter Strife and Contention is extremely valuable. And we certainly wondered about the secret thoughts Cranmer might have had in drafting "Obedience to Authorities" in Henry VIII's England.

What are the basic issues of our time that need the careful attention of Biblically sound homilies which could be re-used as the occasion demands? Mostly the same issues as were the case in Cranmer's time.

[Peter Kirsop · Rating 5 out of 5]

this excellent book should along with The Tutorial Prayerbook [2nd edition is available free online http://assets.newscriptorium.com/angl... ] be required reading for all Anglican ordination candidates, lay preachers and Readers. This book not only teaches Godly living and doctrine it is an example of how to preach it Although I love the cadence of Cranmer's Tudor English, it is not that easy to understand [I am struggling with Jewell's Apology] but this 'rewrite' conveys the meaning well