Anamnesis in the Sacramental Vision of George Herbert

This paper examines the role of anamnesis in the sacramental vision of the Anglican priest and poet George Herbert (1593-1633). Herbert’s significant collection of poems in The Temple show him to be of sincere religious conviction and great poetic skill. He is perhaps the first devotional poet of the Anglican Communion. Herbert makes significant use of anamnesis in his poetry in coming to know the power of God present through sacramental means. Herbert’s work continues to hold out the power of remembrance to those who read his poetry today in the wider sacramental vision he explores. The paper argues that Herbert in embracing anamnesis moved beyond the capacities of the words of poetry to encounter the Holy, in particular to the dynamic and enacted remembrance of the radiant action of Christ in the present, focused in the general notion of sacramentality and in specific sacraments such as baptism and the eucharist.