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Book of Common Prayer(bookcommonprayer,book common prayer,bookcommon prayer,book commonprayer)The Book of Common Prayer is the prayer book of the Church of England and also the name for similar books used in other churches in the Anglican Communion . It has been through many revisions over the lastfew centuries. It contains the order to be followed in church services. Within the United Kingdom , it can only be printed by one of the privileged presses , as it is under perpetual Crown Copyright .
History of the Prayer BookEarly Prayer BooksThe earliest service book of the Church of England was the Exhortation and Litany . Published in 1544 , it borrowedgreatly from Martin Luther 's Litany and Myles Coverdale 's New Testament, and was the only Protestant service to be finished within the lifetime of King Henry VIII . In 1548 , Thomas Cranmer finished work on an English Communion , necessitated by an order of Parliament declaring that Communion was tobe given in both forms—bread and wine. This was the first service to show the roots of Protestantism which were beginning to take hold in the English Church. The service existed as an addition tothe pre-existing Latin Mass, and much of Cranmer's language in this service has survived through the many subsequent revisionsdown to the present day. One year later, in 1549 , a full prayer book had been finished and was published underthe leadership of Cranmer during the reign of Edward VI .(This text of the Communion is online here ). It was used until only 1552 , when a further revision was released. In 1553 , upon the succession of Mary I to the throne, an attempt was made at a counter-reformation in England. Cranmer was punished forhis work in the Protestant reformation by being burned at the stake on March 21, 1556 . Allfurther development would continue without his instruction. The 1559 Prayer BookUnder Elizabeth I of England , a restoration of theAnglican Church was undertaken, and a new prayer book was published in 1559. This book was used for over 100 years, thus beingthe official prayer book under the Stuarts as well as being the first Anglican service in America. Without Cranmer's direction inthe 1559 revision, a number of elements leaned toward more Catholic teachings, if not merely for his absence, perhaps as theeffect of years of uncertainty within the church. Amongst these included:
The 1662 Prayer BookThe 1662 prayer book was printed but two years after the restoration of the monarchy, and, given the mildly Catholic leaningsof the monarchy at the time, the 1662 was a surprisingly Protestant revision. A number of ecclesiastical scholars in England sawmerit in the beliefs of the Puritans and worked some of these into the prayer book. This revision survives today as the approvedBook of Common Prayer in England, with only minor revisions since its publication (mostly due the changes in themonarchy and in the dominion of the Empire). The language of the 1662 revision was much unchanged from that of Cranmer, with the exception of the modernization of only themost archaic words and phrases. This book was the one which had existed as the official Book of Common Prayer during themost monumental periods of growth of the British empire, and, as a result, has been a great influence on the prayer books ofAnglican churches worldwide, liturgies of other denominations in English, and of the English language as a whole. Further Developments of the English Book of Common PrayerAfter the 1662 prayer book, development did not cease in England. A subsequent, far more Protestant revision was developedlater in the 17th Century , but was scrappedas the various parties influencing the work pressed for tolerance of their respective denominations within England as opposed toinclusion in the liturgy. This work, however, did go on to influence the prayer books of many British colonies. England, then, continued on using the 1662 version. It looked as though this wouldchange in the early days of the 20th century when work was started on arevision slated to be finished in the 1920s. In 1927 , this proposed prayer book was finished. It was decided, during development,that the use of the services therein would be decided on by each given congregation, so as to avoid as much conflict as possiblewith traditionalists. With these open guidelines the book was granted approval by the Church of England Convocations and ChurchAssembly. Since the Church of England is a state church, a further step—sending the proposed revision toParliament—was required, and the book was rejected in December of that year when the MP WilliamJoynson-Hicks argued strongly against it on the grounds that the proposed book was "papistical" and insufficientlyProtestant. The next year was spent revising the book to make it more suitable for Parliament, but it was rejected yet again in 1928 . However Convocation declared a state of emergency and authorised bishops to use therevised Book throughout that emergency.
The Church of England has not since produced any revisions to the Prayer Book, other than those required for the changes tothe monarchy. However, a number of books that are not the Book of Common Prayer per se have been developed for the orderof services, namely the
1980
Alternative ServiceBook
and the
2000
Common Worship
series of books, available, respectively, at:
Anglican Prayer Books in Other NationsBrief Overview of Several Prayer BooksA number of other nations have developed Anglican churches and their own revisions of the Book of Common Prayer. Several arelisted here: The Protestant Episcopal Church in the UnitedStates of America has had produced numerous prayer books since the inception of the church in 1789 . Work on the first book began in 1786 and was subsequently finishedand published in 1789 . The preface thereto mentions that "this Church is far from intendingto depart from the Church of England in any essential point of doctrine, discipline, or worship...further than localcircumstances require." Further revisions to the prayer book in the United States have occurred subsequently in 1892 , 1928 , and 1979 . The Anglican Church of Canada developed their first Book of Common Prayer separate from the English versionin 1918 . A revision thereto was published in 1962 .Some supplements have been developed over the past several years to the prayer book, and the Book of AlternativeServices, published in 1985 , is commonly used in many parishes. The Scottish Episcopal Church has had a number of revisions to the Book of Common Prayer. These weredeveloped simultaneously with the English book till the mid-17th century when the Scottish book departed from the Englishrevisions. A completely new revision was finished in 1929 , and several revisions to thecommunion service seem to have been prepared since then. External Sources of Anglican Prayer Books WorldwideHere are also some links to parts of the Book of Common Prayer as used in other Anglican churches throughout theworld.
Religious InfluenceThe Book of Common Prayer has had a great influence on a number of other denominations. While theologicallydifferent, the language and flow of the service of many other churches owes a great debt to the prayer book. John Wesley , an Anglican minister whose teachings are ascribed as thefoundations of the Methodism said, "I believe there is no Liturgy in the world,either in ancient or modern language, which breathes more of a solid, scriptural, rational piety than the Common Prayer of theChurch of England." Presently, most Methodist services have a very similar service and theology to that of the Anglicanchurch. In the 1960s, when Roman Catholicism moved towards a vernacular mass, a good deal of the translations of the English prayersfollowed the form of Cranmer's translation. Ironically enough, a number of theologians have suggested that the later EnglishAlternative Service Book and 1979 American Book of Common Prayer borrowed from the Roman Catholic vernacularLectionary. External linksBooks
World Wide Web
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