George Every (3 February 1909 – 2 September 2003) was a British historian, theologian, writer on Christian mythology and poet.

Life

George Every was born, along with a twin brother Edward, on 3 February 1909 in

Tipton St John Tipton St John is a village in the civil parish of Ottery St Mary in the English county of Devon. It has a population of around 350. The village is built on rising ground overlooking the River Otter. Railway Between the village and the river l ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

where his father, also George Every, was the village vicar. George, Edward and their sister Mary (born 1911) spent the majority of their youth with their parents, and extended family in the East Devon area. Every was a member of the Anglican religious community the

Society of the Sacred Mission The Society of the Sacred Mission (SSM), with the associated Company of the Sacred Mission, is an Anglican religious order founded in 1893 by Father Herbert Kelly, envisaged such that "members of the Society share a common life of prayer and fell ...

Kelham Kelham is a small village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire about northwest of Newark on a bend in the A617 road near its crossing of the River Trent. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 207. Historical Kelham ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

from 1929 to 1973. He then became a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

and taught at

Oscott College St Mary's College in New Oscott, Birmingham, often called Oscott College, is the Roman Catholic seminary of the Archdiocese of Birmingham in England and one of the three seminaries of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. Purpose Oscott Coll ...

. He was known as a historian of Byzantium and was in some ways a follower of

Christopher Dawson Christopher Henry Dawson (12 October 188925 May 1970) was a British independent scholar, who wrote many books on cultural history and Christendom. Dawson has been called "the greatest English-speaking Catholic historian of the twentieth century ...

. Every encountered

T.S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National B ...

at Kelham and introduced him to the history of

Little Gidding Little Gidding is a small village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. It lies approximately northwest of Huntingdon, near Sawtry, within Huntingdonshire, which is a district of Cambridgeshire as well as a historic county. A small p ...

, later to be the title for one of Eliot's ''

Four Quartets ''Four Quartets'' is a set of four poems written by T. S. Eliot that were published over a six-year period. The first poem, ''Burnt Norton'', was published with a collection of his early works (1936's ''Collected Poems 1909–1935''). After a f ...

'' through his draft

verse play Verse drama is any drama written significantly in verse (that is: with line endings) to be performed by an actor before an audience. Although verse drama does not need to be ''primarily'' in verse to be considered verse drama, significant portio ...

''Stalemate at Little Gidding''. On the occasion, in 1948, of Eliot's

sexagenarian Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...

ism, Every wrote for a dedicatory compendium a piece on the poet's religious leanings and its broader significance.Every 1948, pp. 181-188.

Works

* Christian Discrimination (1940) * Selected Poems (

Staples Press Staples commonly refers to: * Staple (fastener), a small strip of folded metal used to fasten sheets of paper together * Staples Inc., an office supply chain store with headquarters in North America * Staple foods Staples may also refer to: Plac ...

, c. 1946) with S. L. Bethell, J. D. C. Pellow * The Byzantine Patriarchate 451-1204 (1947) * Poetry and Personal Responsibility. An Interim Report on Contemporary Literature (1949) * The High Church Party 1688-1718 (1956) * Lamb To The Slaughter (1957) * Studies In Ministry and Worship: The Baptismal Sacrifice (1959) * Basic Liturgy (1961) * No Pious Person by

Herbert Kelly Herbert Hamilton Kelly (18 July 1860 – 31 October 1950), a priest of the Church of England, was the founder of the Society of the Sacred Mission (SSM), an Anglican religious order. Early life and education Kelly was born at St James's Vicara ...

(1960) editor * Misunderstandings between East and West (1965) * Christian Mythology (1970) * New Heaven? New Earth? An Encounter with Pentecostalism (1976)

Peter Hocken Peter Hocken (22 June 1932 – 10 June 2017) was a British theologian and historian of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and the Pentecostal movement in the twentieth century. Born in Brighton, England, Hocken was ordained a priest in the Roman Cat ...

, John Orme Mills, Simon Tugwell * Understanding Eastern Christianity (1978) * The Mass - Meaning, Mystery and Ritual (1978) * The Time of the Spirit - Readings Through the Christian Year (1984) anthology, editor with

Richard Harries Richard Douglas Harries, Baron Harries of Pentregarth, (born 2 June 1936) is a retired bishop of the Church of England and former British Army officer. He was the Bishop of Oxford from 1987 to 2006. From 2008 until 2012 he was the Gresham Profes ...

Kallistos Ware Kallistos Ware (born Timothy Richard Ware, 11 September 1934 – 24 August 2022) was an English bishop and theologian of the Eastern Orthodox Church. From 1982, he held the titular bishopric of Diokleia in Phrygia ( gr, Διόκλεια Φρ� ...

* Christian Legends (1987) * A Christmas Collection (2001)

External links

''Times'' obituary

Bibliography

* Every, Brother George SSM. "The Way of Rejections." In ''T. S. Eliot: A Symposium'', edited by

Richard March Pop Will Eat Itself are an English alternative rock band formed in 1986 in Stourbridge in the West Midlands of England with members from Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country. Initially known as a grebo act, they changed style to incorp ...

and

Tambimuttu Meary James Thurairajah Tambimuttu (15 August 1915 – 23 June 1983) was a Tamil poet, editor, critic and publisher, who for many years played a significant part on the literary scenes of London and New York City. He founded in 1939 the respecte ...

, 181-188.

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Editions Poetry Edition may refer to: * Edition (book), a bibliographical term for a substantially similar set of copies * Edition (printmaking), a publishing term for a set print run * Edition (textual criticism), a particular version of a text * Edition Recor ...

, 1948.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Every, George 1909 births 2003 deaths Members of Anglican religious orders British male poets 20th-century British poets 20th-century British historians 20th-century British male writers People from East Devon District People from Newark and Sherwood (district)