John Mason Neale and the Quest for Sobornost [Hardcover]

John Mason Neale (1818-1866), the famous Victorian divine, hymnologist, novelist, historian, and author of the carol Good King Wenceslas, was also noted for his interest in ecumenism. This book traces Neale's interest in the Orthodox church, as expressed through his historical writings, translations of Greek hymns, and novels set in the Christian East. The work is based on a wide variety of manuscript and published sources for the subject, and demonstrates how this leading light in Anglo-Catholic revival acted as an exemplary interpreter of Byzantium and Eastern Orthodoxy to the Victorian England of his day. Neale's life and work provide a shining example of how two very different cultures and traditions can approach each other, with fruitful results for both.

Litvack's analysis of Neale's hymns is particularly valuable, the more so because they have been the major channel of his enduring influence. A detailed knowledge of Greek hymnody enables Litvack to comment perceptively on Neale's skill as a translator, and the problems he faced in rendering the rhythms and conventions of Greek hymnody into English idiom and metre. --Ecclesiastical History

Litvack's writing is clear and precise, presenting a fascinating picture of one of England's foremost ecumenical figures, liturgical scholars, and hymnists of the nineteenth century. I highly recommend this book. --Southwestern Journal of Theology

Litvack has provided a well-written...interpretation of Neale's endeavor to further the cause of thesobornost. --Church Times

...this study deserves to be in any respectable collection of Anglo-Catholic literature. It is sound, thorough, and extremely valuable. --Angelican and Episcopal History

[A] fascinating book. --Times Literary Supplement