One of the crown jewels of the Book of Common Prayer is the General Confession in Morning and Evening Prayer.1John N. Matthews Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame. In theological terms, it offers a clear-eyed depiction of what Christians believe is the human condition: we are prone to curve inward away from God, we need his forgiveness. In literary terms, it is a superbly balanced composition that is full of memorable phrases, such as “erred and strayed like lost sheep” and “the devices and desires of our own hearts.”2For brief rhetorical analysis of the General Confession, see Alan Jacobs, The Book of Common Prayer: A Biography (2013) 61-64. The sources of this short prayer are at least
No Health in Us?
by
Samuel Bray