The Geneva gown, also called a pulpit gown, pulpit robe, or preaching robe, is a garment worn by ordained ministers and accredited lay preachers. It is particularly associated with Reformed churches, while also used in the Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran and Unitarian traditions.
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Description
The gown, like academic and judicial gowns, is traditionally black, loose fitting with full length bell sleeves.[1] It is often constructed from heavy material and features velvet facings running over the neck and down the front, mimicking the tippet sometimes worn over it.
A minister who has earned a doctorate (e.g. DD, DMin, PhD, ThD) may wear three velvet bars on each sleeve, or simply wear his academic gown in the pulpit. The velvet panels of the gown's facings match the sleeves.
Contemporary choir robes are distinct from the Geneva gown, usually with lighter and colorful fabric and large open sleeves.
Purpose
The Geneva gown represents the academic training the wearer has attained for the purpose of preaching.[2] The gown has the effect of concealing the person, thereby emphasizing the office instead. In this way, it is a kind of uniform.[3]
Accompanying Garments
Modern gowns are often worn over a collared shirt with necktie or a clerical collar, with or without a suitcoat. A minister may also wear preaching bands and a stole. A lay preacher may also wear a preaching scarf. Less typically a minister may wear white gloves when distributing the elements of the Lord's Supper, a practice predating the advent of stainless steel chalices and communion trays. Open-front gowns are traditionally worn over the cassock and sometimes do not include sleeves, especially in Britain where Master's gowns sometimes drop the sleeves.
History
The Protestant Reformers objected to the theology of ordination in Roman Catholic Church and its prescribed priestly vestments. Andreas Karlstadt is was the first to wear his black academic gown during the liturgy rather than contemporary clerical dress.[4] Other Protestant ministers, (esp. Reformed), many of them former Catholic priests, followed suit.[5][6] Unlike today, when academic regalia is generally reserved for ceremonies, this would have been the daily dress for the reformers. John Knox carried the custom from Geneva to Scotland in the 1570s.[5] This was eventually defined as liturgical dress, and the traditional garment for those in leadership roles.[7][8]
In the Church of England, a controversy broke out over the prescription of vestments in the first Book of Common Prayer. The more reformed (later, Puritan) party preferring black gowns like their continental reformed peers, and objecting that such vestments were a superstitious holdover from medieval Catholicism. The debate centered around whether vestments were a thing indifferent and could thus be regulated. Official positions would fluctuate through the reigns of Edward VI and Elizabeth I. By 1610 James VI and I instructed black gowns for the pulpit.[5]
Usage
By convention a minister or lay preacher may wear the gown only at expressly Christian services of worship wherein a sermon, that is an exposition of Scripture, is delivered.
A survey from 1966 records North American use by denomination. In all cases, the denomination allows for local discretion or makes no official statement:[5]
| Denomination | Frequency of Wear |
|---|---|
| United Church of Christ | Geneva gown "the rule". Doctors wear their academic gowns. Congregationalists likely to include hood, German Mercersburg adherents prefer the surplice. |
| United Church of Canada | Gown "almost entirely" worn, usually over cassock with bands. |
| United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America | Gown worn by a majority of ministers. Doctors wear their academic gown. |
| Presbyterian Church in the United States | Gown worn by a majority of ministers. |
| Reformed Church in America | Cassock with gown and bands common. Stronger in Northeast than Midwest. |
| Methodist Church | Worn by a majority of ministers. Southern ministers more likely to wear a suit. |
| Evangelical United Brethren Church | Gown worn in about half the churches. Rising in popularity. |
| African Methodist Episcopal Church | Degreed ministers usually wear academic gown with hood. Others usually wear black pulpit gown. |
| African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church | Gown normally worn. |
| American Baptist Convention | Worn by 1/4 of ministers. |
| Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod | Gown worn by about 1/5th of ministers, without bands. |
| Lutheran Church in America | Gown worn by about 1/6th of ministers. Cassock, surplice and stole more common. |
| Southern Baptist Convention | Gown worn rarely, except for baptisms. Formal attire the norm. |
| National Baptist Convention | Gown worn by some. Most wear suits. |
| Moravian Church | Gowns worn by some. |
| Disciples of Christ | Gown not usual. Suits common. |
| American Lutheran Church | Gown "almost completely" in disuse. |
| Churches of Christ | Gowns not worn. |
| American Baptist Association | Gowns not worn, only suits. |
| Church of the Nazarene | Gowns not worn, only suits. |
| Assemblies of God | Gowns not worn, only suits. |
| Pentecostal churches | Gowns not worn, only suits. |
| Church of Christ, Scientist | Gowns not worn, only suits. |
| Latter-day Saints | Gowns not worn, only suits. |
For historical and theological reasons the gown is most typical of Congregational, Presbyterian and Reformed churches, that is those congregations primarily influenced by Calvinist formulations of Christian doctrine and church order.[9] Though historically also common with Baptist and Methodist clergy, its use waned in the 20th century. During that century, there was a general shift toward a less formal religious service; this movement spread across most denominational lines. Rarely is this uniquely Protestant attire worn by Eastern Orthodox or Roman Catholics.
Anglican
The typical clerical dress of an Anglican minister during the 18th century was a cassock, Geneva gown, and neck bands. For this reason, the gown is sometimes (though rarely) found in "low church" parishes of the Anglican Communion, many whom desire a continuity with the stauncher Protestant stances of the church before the influence of the Oxford Movement. In these parishes it is usual for the gown to be worn for preaching, whilst the surplice is worn for the liturgy.[10]
Black American
Gowns are widely used in many African-American congregations regardless of denominational affiliation.
Lutheran
Use of the gown has also waned in Lutheran churches, though it seemed to be common during the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries.
Reformed & Presbyterian
In the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, it is normal for the Geneva gown to be vented (opened at the front), sleeveless, and worn over a cassock. The cassock is usually black, but also comes in blue (as the Flag of Scotland), or scarlet red for a King's Chaplain. This practice is sometimes followed by some English Methodists and American Presbyterians, although wearing the more familiar American-style gown, including wearing a black cassock in Roman or Anglican cut.
Trends
During the later half of the 20th century, the ongoing effects of the Oxford movement sparked interest for reforms in non-Anglican denominations in America (such as the PC(USA) and UMC). Today, it is not uncommon to find the alb worn by many mainline Protestant clergy during services.[11] This, however, should not be seen as a revival of historical practice, but as part of general liturgical reforms which were occurring in denominations at that time.
United and uniting churches in some countries (esp. Australia; but not Canada) tend to abandon the Geneva gown for the alb and cincture, which are seen as more ancient and ecumenical. Evangelical churches trend the opposite direction, doing away with distinct ministerial dress altogether.
Some rabbis and spiritual leaders of other non-Christian faiths have fashioned their modern religious garb patterned after the historic Geneva gown.
Within the paleo-orthodox and emerging church movements, clergy are reclaiming not only the traditional Eucharistic vestments of alb and chasuble, but also cassock and surplice (typically a full-length Old English style) with appropriate liturgical stole, and cassock, still sometimes using the Geneva gown for the Service of the Word.
References
- ^ The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian church. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press. 2006. p. 237. ISBN 978-0-19-866268-6.
- ^ "Signs and symbols". Presbyterian Mission Agency. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
The Geneva gown is a black robe, once commonly worn in public by those with academic credentials. The Geneva gown symbolizes scholarly training and learned preaching, a historical value and strength of the Reformed tradition.
- ^ Blacketer, Raymond A. (18 June 2015). "The Preaching Uniform". blacketer.org. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
- ^ Hargrave, Seamus Addison (21 October 2018). "An Argument for the Wider Adoption and Use of Traditional Academic Attire within Roman Catholic Church Services". Transactions of the Burgon Society. 17 (1): 111. doi:10.4148/2475-7799.1150. ISSN 2475-7799.
- ^ a b c d Piepkorn, Arthur Carl (November 1966). "Lutheran and Protest Vestment Practices in the United States and Canada: A Survey" (PDF). Concordia Theological Monthly. XXXVII (10).
- ^ Bruggink, Donald J. (December 1988). "Preaching Uniforms; What to Wear in the Pulpit". Reformed Worship. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
- ^ Gribben, R. "Liturgical Dress in the Uniting Church" (PDF). Assembly Commission on Liturgy: 2. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
The origins of the Geneva Gown
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ O'Brien, G (2015). Christian Worship: A Theological and Historical Introduction. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 57. ISBN 978-1-4982-3135-0. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
- ^ Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.): Theology and Worship – What about all the different clerical vestments?
- ^ Handbook of the Free Church of England
- ^ General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church: Some Frequently Asked Questions About Clergy Attire and Proper Ways of Addressing Clergy Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
External Links
- The Advent of the Use of the Geneva Gown in Public Worship by D.G. Laird, a United Church of Canada minister.
- A Defense of the Use of the Ministerial Robe in Public Worship by Jeff Myers, a teaching elder of the Presbyterian Church in America.
- Why does the minister wear a robe?, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Overland Park, Kan.
- Material History of American Religion Project: Ministerial Dress by Nolan B. Harmon — an advice book published in 1950 for young American clergy.
This page was last edited on 1 April 2024, at 23:35