Pilgrimage

The most important Anglican mind most Anglicans have never heard of was a frequent visitor to St. John’s in years past, the Canadian priest and professor of Classics, Robert Crouse. There was nothing showy about him, and he did not seek the spotlight. (He was never so miserable as when he was nominated for bishop of Nova Scotia; never so relieved as when he was not elected). Constantly refining and deepening his reading of the great Christian classics – above all, Augustine and Dante – he wrote little and published less. His manner was understated, and those who were looking to be entertained came away disappointed; but his quietly authoritative teaching had a powerful impact on many nonetheless. In the latter part of his life he often left his ancestral home in the Nova Scotian mill village of Crousetown, for speaking engagements throughout North America, and to take up a prestigious teaching post at the Augustinianum in Rome – the first non-Roman Catholic to be so honored at this institute of patristic studies. 

He articulated with unique clarity, insight, and depth, an understanding of the Christian truth that had few rivals. Though a distinguished academic, and historian of theology, there was nothing merely academic about him. David Lyle Jeffrey described him as “one of the great spiritual masters of the twentieth century” who “gracefully and perceptively brings the spiritual depth and intellectual brilliance of pre-Christian classical and biblical traditions into high relief.” You were never just learning about some ancient thinker: you were learning through them about the truth, the fundamental reality of all things. 

In recent years, his former students, of whom I have one, have been engaged in getting his works into print. The first to be published was a slim volume of meditations, Images of Pilgrimage, a fitting choice, because pilgrimage is at the center of his thought: the going forth and return of all things from God and to God. Carol Harrison, the Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford, and Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, said this about this work: “Where is our home? Robert Crouse’s answer is a firm but humble one: it is not here and will never be found in this mortal life; it is a place we have lost and which we will regain, in an even more glorious way, in the life to come. Here we are on the way; we are pilgrims, journeying in faith hope and love towards our homeland; moved and compelled by the faith, hope and love which God inspires within us. This is the God who has created us in His Word, and — when we turned away — condescended in the incarnate Word to share our dark and fragile humanity, so that we might turn back to Him, who is our beginning, our way and our end. Crouse’s meditations convey the wisdom that comes from dwelling with great souls — pagan, and Christian. He appreciates the nobility and confidence of Homer and the philosophers; but is utterly persuaded that they lack the one thing necessary: the love of God which breaths through Christian authors. Like his subjects — the authors of Scripture, Augustine and Dante — Crouse catches us up and draws us into the love of God returning to its source, enabling us to join their pilgrim souls on the journey towards the heavenly homeland. There is much in his humbly confident, profoundly direct, eloquently simple reflections, and the images of pilgrimage which he sets before us, to encourage, sustain and inspire the life of prayerful devotion by which we journey through the trials and tribulations of the wilderness towards the heavenly Jerusalem”.

One of Fr Crouse’s greatest achievements was the rediscovery of the ancient eucharistic lectionary of the western church (preserved in the 1662/1928 Book of Common Prayer) as one of the great spiritual treasures of the Christian tradition. Two of three volumes of his lapidary sermons on this lectionary have been published so far, under the title, The Soul’s Pilgrimage. In addition, a volume of seminal theological essays, mainly given at the Atlantic Theological Conference, is in preparation, and other volumes are in the planning stages. Preparing these volumes for publication, publishing and marketing these books is not without expense, and it may take years before they achieve the level of success they deserve. But we are taking the long view.

You can purchase his books online, and they are also available at the Church Office. Images of Pilgrimage ($25); The Soul’s Pilgrimage, vols 1 and 2. ($30 ea.)

You can support the Works of Robert Crouse publication project by donations made to:
Elliott House of Studies, Inc.
c/o St. John’s Church
1 West Macon Street
Savannah GA
31401