New Seabury Books Explore Church's Life
Episcopal News Service. March 4, 1982 [82064]
NEW YORK (DPS, March 4) -- The Seabury Press is publishing three new books which look at the life of the Episcopal Church from widely differing perspectives.
Bishop John M. Burgess is the author of Black Gospel/White Church, an exploration of the record of black people in the Church which the Press published in March. As bishop of Massachusetts from 1970 to 1975, he was the first black diocesan in the United States.
Through sermons and addresses, Burgess lays out his theme that: "The Episcopal Church is what it is today because of this historic symbiosis of black and white within its fellowship."
Burgess' book, published in March at $7.95, will be followed in April by two others that look at the Church from historical and spiritual viewpoints.
In Spiritual Direction: An Essay on Christian Friendship, the Rev. Dr. Alan Jones of General Theological Seminary, New York City, explores the concept of spiritual direction as friendship in Christ.
"The art of spiritual direction," writes the author, "is rooted in two basic convictions. The first is that our relationship with God is of primary and fundamental importance. Without a sense of connection with God all other relationships are impoverished. The second is that our relationship to God is bound up with our relationship to one another and to the whole created order."
The Rev. Dr. Marion Hatchett, School of Theology, University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn., offers the first complete account of the compilation of the American Prayer Book, 1789.
It includes a survey and analysis of previous proposals for revision in England, and their influence on the American revisers. Also included are generous extracts from journals and correspondence, previously only available to scholars, which call into question many fondly held assumptions. The legislative process by which this book was adopted is also fully documented.
The Making of the First American Book of Common Prayer will be available for $19.95. Jones' book will be sold for $12.95.