ENTERING
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE
BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER
INTRODUCTION
• “The Book of Common
Prayer (BCP) is not a
prayer book in the sense
of a collection of separate
prayers. It is more like a
playbook, the script
actors use for performing
a play. In this case, the
acts to be performed are
acts of worship, religious
exercises in which
prayers are important
components, but not the
only ones.
INTRODUCTION
• The players or
participants must know
what to do and how to
follow along and the
texts in the BCP make
that possible.
Consequently,
worshiping with the
BCP conforms to a set
of patterns.”
ORIGINS
• A. Missal
• a) Pre-reformation book for Mass
• b) Convenient for priest- large churches
• c) Priest alone, enabled him to celebrate the Mass on his own
B. The Breviary - book of daily services
C. The Missal – book for Holy Communion
D. The Ritual – book of special offices
E. The Pontifical – book of offices only used by Bishops
F. An extra-- The Pica(Pie) – an extra directory of instructions for
the saying of services and for helping sacristans and others
involved in preparation
ORIGINS CONT’D.
• G. Daily Prayers
• a) Rule of St. Benedict from 6th century, originally by Benedict of
Nursia, taken from John Cassian
• b) of all the religious orders, Benedictines were probably the most
influential in England
• c) divine office was the official set of prayers from the Roman
Catholic Church from Latin officum divinum meaning divine
service or duty
• d) daily offices were offered in a way that echoed the spirit of the
Rule, with Lauds and Vespers as the main services, between
which were Terce, Sext and None, begun with Prime and ending
with Compline.
• e) at the eve of the Reformation, the practice of reciting the daily
offices in two main blocks, morning and evening, had become the
norm.
PURPOSES OF THE BCP
• Original motivations were:
• A) Doctrinal- to embody liturgy that put Reformation teaching
into praying words
• B) Social-to signal and spread the use of the vernacular
• C) Liturgical- to bring together the main services of the reformed
Church of England and put them in direct contact with clergy and
laity
GUTENBERG PRESS
• The invention of moveable type
and efficient printing presses
greatly impacted the Reformation
as a whole. Gutenberg’s genius
was to produce each individual
letter as a single piece of moveable
metal type. Composed into a
page, the words were locked into
forms and inked. The image was
transferred to paper by one firm
imprint from Gutenberg’s press.
This process was a tremendous
improvement over traditional
methods, and by 1500, an
estimated 1,100 printing shops
were operating in 240 European
towns. All types of manuscripts
were produced, including
vernacular publications, such as
the BCP.
THOMAS CRANMER AND BCP
• A. Background and Bio
• a) born in 1489
• b) studied at Jesus College Cambridge
• c) ordained in 1520, Doctor of Divinity, 1526, conservative at the time, no
reformation sympathies
• d) by 1527, involved in diplomatic business
• e) among 1st theologians involved in negotiations for divorce of Henry
VIII from Catherine of Aragon
• g)1st published English work backed Henry’s case
• g) 1532 visited Nuremberg and saw Lutheran reformation; secretly
married niece of a reformer; illegal act for English Priest and 1st evidence
of his sympathy with the reformation
• h) Archbiship of Canterbury in 1533 and served until 1556. Became
involved with Thomas Cromwell, King’s Vice Regent, in removing papal
supremacy in England and in the subsequent reform of the church
THOMAS CRANMER CONT’D.
• B. Cranmer’s Religion
• a) Henry demanded subservice, so Cranmer’s desire for reform
was constrained by royal policy
• b) religious teaching determined by series of doctrinal statements
or sets of articles
• c) Ten Articles of 1536 link with Lutheran doctrine, but many
differences were glossed over
• d) June 1539 reform door slammed shut with the Six Articles
which affirmed traditional teachings…Cromwell executed and
Cranmer isolated.
• e) 1543 King’s book replaced all others as the benchmark of
doctrine in England.
THE REFORMATION
• A. Edward VI - Son of Henry
VIII and Jane Seymour, and Henry’s only
male issue
• a) accession of Edward VI in January
1547 allowed English reformers to move
forward
• B) Cranmer secured abolition of various
ceremonies and customs as
superstitious.
• c) in 1548, Order of the Communion
consisting of exhortations, confession,
and absolution and what would come to
be known as the Comfortable Words and
the Prayer of Humble Access, along with
a formula to be used at the
administration of communion, i.e. lay
people were to receive consecrated bread
and wine, emerged
THE REFORMATION CONT’D.
• d) Cranmer and his colleagues
were at work drafting the 1st
complete English Prayer Book
• e) Parliament passed the new
Prayer Book on Jan 21 and it was
the text required to be in use by
Whitsunday , or June 9, 1549
• f) on April 14, 1552, Parliament
passed the 2nd revised Prayer Book
and ordered its use begin on
November 1st
• g) both Cranmer’s prayer books
retained a large amount of
material from the traditional
services and gave the impression
of a conservative reform
THE MONARCHY
• B. Mary Tudor - daughter
of Henry VIII and Catherine of
Aragon, staunchly Roman Catholic
• a) tried to restore English church
to the state in which it had been in
1530 prior to her father’s break
with Rome and her brother’s
establishment of a Protestant faith
• b) impossible task as religious
orders and places of worship had
been destroyed and church lands
were now in lay ownership
THE MONARCHY CONT’D.
• Elizabeth I - daughter of Henry
•
•
•
•
•
•
VIII and Anne Boleyn
a) brought up in Protestant household of her
stepmother Catherine Parr
b) halted and dismantled Mary’s Catholic
reformation within 6 months of ascending to
the throne
c) in matters of religion, Elizabeth was a
Protestant and would not tolerate a church
independent from the state or under Roman
pontiff
d) emergence of the 1559 BCP bound to the
political maneuvers of the 1st months of her
reign
e) Elizabeth and her advisors pursued
reform in the church by proceeding through
the legal system
f) Elizabeth died in 1603
THE MONARCHY CONT’D.
• James VI of Scotland
became King James I of
England
•
•
•
•
•
•
a) ascended to the throne with the hope of many
that he would replace the BCP since Scotland
was Presbyterian in polity
b) was immediately presented with the
Millenary Petition, requesting reform of the
church and liturgy
c) James referred these matters to the
Hampton Court conference of 1604
d) BCP of 1604 resulted and changes made were
moderate
e) Bishop Lancelot Andrewes and his
colleagues began distancing themselves from
continental Reformed theology
f) this group of divines, known as the Durham
House group preferred the authority of the
ancient church fathers to the Reformation, and
looked more to the BCP of 1549 for inspiration
THE MONARCHY CONT’D.
• Charles I – James’ son
• a) ascended the throne upon his father’s
death
• b) Durham House group, including William
Laud, a later AB of Canterbury, began to
show symptoms of what reformers called
creeping popery, i.e. railing of communion
table
• c) Scotland invaded England, leading to Civil
War and eventual execution of Charles I
• d) Oliver Cromwell established
Commonwealth and Protectorate and a
semi-Presbyterian system came into place
• e) BCP of 1604 replaced with A Directory
for the Public Worship of God, or
Westminster Directory. It was a
compromise between all parties and
provided only an outline for services
• f) BCP use was outlawed in 1645
THE MONARCHY CONT’D.
• King Charles II
• a) Cromwell’s death led Parliament and the
army to restore the monarchy under Charles
II
• b) in 1660, Charles II issued Declaration of
Breda, promising “religious liberty to tender
consciences” but also declared BCP of 1660
“the best we have seen”
• c) ecclesiastical war was waged at the Savoy
Conference among Episcopate and
Presbyterians
• d)the BCP of 1662 ultimately resulted and
became known as an incomparable liturgy
• e) as the British settled elsewhere in the
world, this book went with them
THE BCP IN THE COLONIES AND STATES
OF AMERICA
• A. Earliest Years
• a) 1st Holy Communion service on
American soil conducted by
Anglican clergyman Robert Hunt
in Jamestown on May 14, 1607
• b) Hunt was chaplain of the
expedition that founded
Jamestown
• b) some colonies adhered to
English traditions, some were
populated by heirs of Puritan and
Nonconformist traditions
THE BCP IN THE COLONIES AND STATES
OF AMERICA
• B. BCP 1786
• a) previous revisions were attempted
in England; one in 1773 by Ben
Franklin
• b) John Wesley adopted Prayer Book
Liturgy for Methodists shortly after the
American Revolution
• c) conflicts between believers in the
northern and southern churches made
revising the BCP a difficult task
• d) the book that emerged from the
convention in Philadelphia in 1785
contained changes favored by
evangelicals in the southern and
middle states, many of which were
unacceptable to the high church party
in other regions of the country, as well
as bishops in England
THE BCP IN THE COLONIES AND STATES
OF AMERICA
• B. BCP 1786, cont’d.
• e) references to King and
Parliament were eliminated, as
well as the Nicene Creed
• f) baptism service made no
reference to regeneration and
required no sign of the cross
• g) members of the clergy were
never referred to as priests
THE BCP IN THE COLONIES AND STATES
OF AMERICA
• C. BCP 1789
• a) general convention of the new
church met in Philadelphia in 1789
• b) a modified versions of the 1786
book was adopted
• c) Nicene Creed was restored
• d) Prayer of Consecration was much
longer than in the BCP of 1662
• e) principal Sunday morning service
was still Morning Prayer
• f) some language was updated
• g) parents could serve as sponsors, a
change sought by early Puritans
THE BCP IN THE COLONIES AND STATES
OF AMERICA
• D. BCP 1892
• a) BCP 1789 wore well for almost 100
years
b) revision was needed due to large
influxes of immigrants into cities,
towns, and remote missionary areas
where lengthy Sunday worship was
impractical
c) revision was also influenced by
Catholic revival in Anglicanism
d) ended up being an extremely
conservative revision
e) added 1 new service, A Penitential
Office for Ash Wednesday
LATER REVISIONS
• A. BCP 1928
• a) first steps towards a new revision taken at
General Convention of 1913
• b) too soon to be influenced by Liturgical
Movement in Europe
• c) consequently, fairly conservative revision
• d) included broader range of prayers
• e) controversies involved public prayer for
the dead and rearrangement of the
components parts of the Communion
Service
• e) convention set up a Standing Liturgical
Commission to prepare for future revisions
LATER REVISIONS
• B. BCP 1979
• a) most innovative feature was the way in
which the revision came into being
• b) standing Commission on Liturgy
undertook production of a series of Prayer
Book Studies to test suggested changes
• c) resulted in several trial versions,
commonly known as the Green Book, the
Zebra Book, and the Blue Book
• d) innovative process invited church
members into the revision experience in
line with the new emphasis on a priesthood
of the people
• e) resulted in a reshaped Liturgy that
restored earlier forms and produced a
dramatic sequence, all based on practices of
early Christians.