The Second Homily, titled “A Sermon of the Misery of All Mankind, and of His Condemnation to Death Everlasting by His Own Sin,” offers commentary on our fallen state as human beings. This homily is generally ascribed to the Archdeacon John Harpsfield of London, a controversial convert from Roman Catholicism who was involved in the interrogation of Archbishop Cranmer under the Marian reign. In this homily, which represents a later shift in his thought, Archdeacon Harpsfield responds to some … [Read more...]
On the Homilies: The Reading and Knowledge of Scripture
The following is the first in a series of posts on the Book of Homilies. See our introduction to the Homilies here. The first of the Homilies, titled “A Fruitful Exhortation to the Reading and Knowledge of Holy Scripture,” is supposed to have been written by Archbishop Cranmer. It belongs to the first of the two Books of Homilies, published in 1547 within a collection of twelve sermons. This exhortation treats the reading of the Scriptures, and the necessity and profitableness of such knowledge … [Read more...]
Discovering the Anglican Way: The Homilies
Anglicans have traditionally found their identity in the Anglican formularies - the Elizabethan Book of Homilies, the Thirty-Nine Articles, the 1662 Ordinal, and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. These formularies contain the coherent theology of Anglicanism. Unfortunately, the study of these formularies largely has disappeared, as congregations have attempted to place their “Anglican” identity in various theological movements or in their own experiences. While many people are still somewhat … [Read more...]
Praising the Book of Common Prayer for its Literary Style
THE SUMMER 2014 ISSUE of the Anglican Way magazine has hit the press, and this issue's theme is poetry, liturgy, and the relationship of aesthetics to doctrine. Included in this issue is Joan O'Donovan's review of Alan Jacobs' book The Book of Common Prayer: A Biography. The Rev. Gavin Dunbar has discussed the meaning of sola scriptura, correcting contemporary misinterpretations and setting the term within its historical context. Bill Murchison has contributed the second part to his tale of … [Read more...]
Scruton’s Church: A Personal History
Our Church: A Personal History of the Church of England, by Roger Scruton. (London: Atlantic Books, 2012.) One of the most interesting public intellectuals in the English world has written about his love of the Church of England and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. Roger Scruton, author of books on art and aesthetics, politics, eighteenth century philosophy, religion, wine and hunting, has written Our Church as a personal history to explain his attachment to the Church of England. One might … [Read more...]
The Tudor Machine
It is remarkable how popular historical fiction creates expressions such as ‘the Tudor machine', a term hitherto unfamiliar in historical circles. Dominic Selwood, writing for the Telegraph on yesterday’s 481st anniversary of Henry VIII’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon, seems to have been dwelling in the realm of these historical romances when he remarks that Henry VIII’s divorce was “the event that started the English Reformation.” Furthermore, and here historical fiction triumphs … [Read more...]
A Liturgy for Our Time?
In the following interview, the Rev. Canon Dr. Ashley Null and the Rev. Gavin Dunbar sit down with the Lord Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, to discuss the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. Gavin Dunbar asks the Rt. Rev. Chartres to speak about the historical development and transmission of the prayer book since 1662, in England and globally. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdxdpytnDYc Chartres describes the symphony of Scripture woven throughout the Book of Common Prayer. He explains that the … [Read more...]
Thomas Cranmer: An Interview with Dr. Ashley Null
In the following videos, Prayer Book Society President Gavin Dunbar interviews the Rev'd Canon Dr. Ashley Null about the 1662 BCP, its background, and its significance today. This interview was filmed at the 2012 Mere Anglicanism conference in Charleston, SC on the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. In the first segment, Dr. Null describes the Christian humanism of Erasmus, its influence on Thomas Cranmer and its importance in crafting the Book of Common … [Read more...]
The Living Prayer Book: A Review of Alan Jacobs’ The Book of Common Prayer: A Biography
By Jacob Stubbs Alan Jacobs’ The Book of Common Prayer: A Biography serves as a fascinating introduction to the often contentious life of the Book of Common Prayer. Jacobs handles many years of complex British political relations and party politics as they manifested themselves in the established Church of England. Additionally, Jacobs demonstrates a deep knowledge of the theological implications of the English Reformation and the historical development of the Book of Common Prayer. This review … [Read more...]
The Book of Common Prayer is Still a Big Deal
In Christianity Today, Alan Jacobs describes the enduring influence of the BCP and its importance to evangelical Christians: The Book of Common Prayer is nearly 500 years old. Does it still make a difference for how we worship today? I suppose that would depend on who you mean by "we"—there are millions of Christians worshipping in ways unaffected by the BCP, except insofar as they share common roots in Jewish and early Christian worship. But the reach of the BCP is more extensive than one … [Read more...]
A Nation at Prayer?
In Comment magazine, Joan Lockwood O'Donovan has published a review of Alan Jacobs' new book, The Book of Common Prayer: A Biography. She writes: This is a concise history of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer over 450 years, from its genesis and reception in the English Reformation to its supersession by the proliferation of alternative Anglican liturgies in the second half of the twentieth century. The history traverses the successive versions of the BCP, the controversies and contests … [Read more...]
“Lent” by George Herbert
Welcome deare feast of Lent: who loves not thee, He loves not Temperance, or Authoritie, But is compos'd of passion. The Scriptures bid us fast; the Church sayes, now: Give to thy Mother, what thou wouldst allow To ev'ry Corporation. ≈ The humble soul compos'd of love and fear Begins at home, and layes the burden there, When doctrines disagree. He sayes, in … [Read more...]
The Substance of the Articles
The following excerpt, taken from the introduction to The Teacher’s Prayer Book by Alfred Barry, is the second in a two-part series on the Thirty-Nine Articles. SECTION II. THE SUBSTANCE OF THE ARTICLES. THE DECLARATION. The Declaration prefixed to the Articles was drawn up by Laud in 1628, in view of the vehement denunciations of Arminianism which had been uttered in Parliament and elsewhere, with constant appeals to the true sense of the Articles. It is put forth simply by Royal … [Read more...]
A History of the Articles
The following excerpt, taken from the introduction to The Teacher’s Prayer Book by Alfred Barry, illustrates the complex history of the Thirty-Nine Articles and their connection to the magisterial confessions of the sixteenth century. SECTION I. A HISTORY OF THE ARTICLES. THE CONFESSIONS OF THE 16TH CENTURY. The Articles of the Church of England form one of the many declarations on faith and discipline, which were put forward in the 16th century by such religious bodies as had thrown off … [Read more...]
Children, Confirmation, and Communion
The Rev'd Gavin Dunbar Introduction The classical Anglican pattern of Christian initiation, as found in the Prayer Books from 1549 to 1928, was comprised of four elements: Baptism (normally, in infancy), followed, when the baptized have come to “years of discretion” (conventionally seven to fourteen), by instruction in the Catechism, Confirmation and admission to Communion. One of the leading features of newer liturgies has been the restructuring of this pattern of Christian initiation. … [Read more...]