Sermons on the Resurrection
These sermons emerge from Lancelot Andrewes's tenure as one of England's most accomplished preachers during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. Preached primarily at Whitehall before the royal court on Easter Sundays between 1593 and 1625, they represent the mature flowering of Anglican homiletical art in its formative period. Andrewes crafted these addresses for sophisticated audiences who expected both theological precision and rhetorical excellence, speaking into a church still defining its identity between Roman Catholicism and continental Protestantism.
Andrewes approaches the resurrection not as a single doctrine to be proved but as the interpretive key that unlocks all of Christian experience. His method is intensely textual, parsing individual Greek and Hebrew words with scholarly precision while building toward moments of profound devotional insight. He demonstrates how Christ's victory over death transforms human understanding of suffering, hope, and the nature of embodied existence. Rather than offering systematic theology, Andrewes works through the emotional and spiritual dimensions of resurrection faith, showing how the Easter reality reshapes Christian living throughout the year. His prose moves between rigorous exegesis and soaring lyrical passages, creating what many consider the finest examples of seventeenth-century English religious oratory.
These sermons helped establish the intellectual and liturgical foundations of Anglicanism, influencing generations of preachers including John Donne and Jeremy Taylor. T.S. Eliot praised Andrewes's ability to unite "thought and feeling," and modern scholars recognize these works as masterpieces of both theology and literature. They continue to reward readers interested in seeing rigorous biblical scholarship wedded to profound spiritual insight.
Who should read this: Preachers seeking models of learned yet accessible exposition will find Andrewes indispensable, as will anyone interested in the development of Anglican theology. Those uncomfortable with formal, liturgical language or seeking contemporary applications may find his seventeenth-century court style challenging.