The Book(s) of Common Prayer. Its history

I'd like to do some research on the history of the BCP.

I'm interested in its original formation (who what where when and why) and its subsequent offspring.

Why did the Church of England produce the BCP and how did it come into existence?

Why did it change over time and who were the key players in these acts?

What was the fallout of the original formation from both/all sides of the pew/courts and continuing on to its final form?

I'm looking to get this resource, but I'm not too sure if it's a "good read."

The Oxford Guide to the Book of Common Prayer: A Worldwide Survey

mm.

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Rosie Perera

I haven't read it, but I have it in my Library, so I'll paste the Table of Contents below. I know that Thomas Cranmer was its chief architect, and that he later was executed (along with Ridley and Latimer) for heresy as a Reformer, after several forced recantations which didn't result in clemency, and then a final reversal of his recantations on the eve of his death. It sounds like a very exciting story, and I would like to read more about it someday.

Anyway, Oxford Guides are generally exceedingly well researched and edited.

CONTENTS

List of Illustrations and Maps

Foreword, The Most Reverend Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Anglicans and Common Prayer, Charles Hefling

Part One

‘But One Use’: The Birth of the Classical Prayer Book

Worship by the Book, Kenneth Stevenson

Cranmer and Common Prayer, Gordon Jeanes

The Prayer Book ‘Noted’, Robin A. Leaver

From Elizabeth I to Charles II, Bryan Spinks

Early Translations, J. Robert Wright

The ‘Liturgy of Comprehension’, Charles Hefling

The Shape of the Classical Book of Common Prayer, J. Neil Alexander

The State Services, Charles Hefling

Part Two

The Social and Cultural Life of the Prayer Book

The Prayer Book and the Parish Church: From the Elizabethan Settlement to the Restoration, Judith Maltby

The Prayer Book and the Parish Church: From the Restoration to the Oxford Movement, Jeremy Gregory

Prayer Book Architecture, James F. White

Prayer Books and Printers, Martin W. Hutner

The Prayer Book as ‘Sacred Text’, Kenneth Stevenson

The Prayer Book as Literature, Paul G. Stanwood

Part Three

The Prayer Book Outside England

Plantations, Missions, and Colonies, William L. Sachs

The Prayer Book in Anglican Churches

Scotland: Episcopalians and Nonjurors, Charles Hefling

The Colonies and States of America, Marion J. Hatchett

British North America and Canada, William R. Blott

Southern Africa, Cynthia Botha

Ireland, Brian Mayne

The Prayer Book and Other Traditions

John Wesley and the Methodists, Karen B. Westerfield Tucker

King’s Chapel and the Unitarians, Carl Scovel

Churches in the Continuing Anglican Tradition, Lesley A. Northup

The Prayer Book and Lutheranism, Philip H. Pfatteicher

Part Four

From Uniformity to Family Resemblance: Prayer Books in the Twentieth Century

The Winds of Change, Colin Buchanan

The Prayer Book ‘Crisis’ in England, Bryan Spinks

The Legacy of the Church of South India, Colin Buchanan

The Liturgical Movement and Its Consequences, John F. Baldovin, s.j.

Preserving the Classical Prayer Books, Colin Buchanan

Part Five

Family Portraits: Prayer Books Today

Inculturation and Anglican Worship, Ian T. Douglas

Rites and Books in Africa

Anglican Liturgies in Eastern Africa, Esther Mombo

The Anglican Church of Kenya, Grant LeMarquand

The Church of Nigeria: The Book of Common Prayer, David C. Okeke

The Church of Nigeria: Occasional Services, Emmanuel Ekpunobi

Central African Prayer Books, Titus Presler

The Province of Southern Africa, Michael Nuttall

Other African Provinces: Burundi, Rwanda, and Congo

Rites and Books in the Pacific

The Anglican Church of Australia, Charles Sherlock

The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia, Kenneth Booth

From Te Rawiri to the New Zealand Prayer Book, Jenny Te Paa

The Church of Melanesia, Terry Brown

The Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea, Justus VanHouten, s.s.f.

Hawaii

Rites and Books in the Americas

The Episcopal Church in the U.S.A., Lesley A. Northup

Native American Translations

The Anglican Church of Canada, John W. B. Hill

Indigenous Canadian Translations

The Province of the West Indies, Charles Hefling

The Book of Common Prayer in Spanish, Juan M. C. Oliver

Rites and Books in Asia

The Episcopal Church in the Philippines, Tomas S. Maddela

Japan: Nippon Sei Ko Kai, John M. Yoshida

The Chinese Prayer Book, Sze-kar Wan

The Anglican Church of Korea, Nak-Hyon Joseph Joo

The Province of Myanmar (Burma), Katherine E. Babson

The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East

Rites and Books in Europe

The Church of England: Common Worship, Trevor Lloyd

The Scottish Episcopal Church, Gianfranco Tellini

The Church in Wales, Robert Paterson

The Church of Ireland, Harold Miller

Anglican Churches in Europe, Jeffery Rowthorn

Part Six

Worship in the Prayer Book Family

Anglicans and Liturgical Revision, Richard Geoffrey Leggett

The Daily Office, John Gibaut

The Eucharist, Ronald Dowling

Sanctifying Time: The Calendar, Leonel L. Mitchell

Rites of Initiation, Ruth A. Meyers

Catechisms, James F. Turrell

Marriage, Gillian Varcoe

Funeral Rites, Trevor Lloyd

Anglican Ordinals, Richard Geoffrey Leggett

Part Seven

The Future of the Book of Common Prayer

The Book of Common Prayer and Technology, Donald Kraus

The Prayer Book in Cyberspace, Clayton L. Morris

The Future of Common Prayer, Pierre W. Whalon

Chronology

Glossary

Select Bibliography

About the Editors and Contributors

Index^{^[1]}

^{^[1]} Charles C. Hefling and Cynthia L. Shattuck, eds., The Oxford Guide to the Book of Common Prayer: A Worldwide Survey (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), vii–ix.

Dale E Heath

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1285449#Comment_1285449

Evidently, there's a second book, which is part of a set. The Book of Common Prayer: The Texts of 1549, 1559, and 1662.

https://www.logos.com/product/164691/the-oxford-guide-to-the-book-of-common-prayer-a-worldwide-survey

https://www.logos.com/product/162692/the-book-of-common-prayer-the-texts-of-1549-1559-and-1662

https://www.logos.com/product/44546/oxford-studies-on-the-book-of-common-prayer

Milkman

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1285449#Comment_1285449

Thanks, Rosie, that's quite the TOC. Any idea if the Book deals with the push-back from the Puritans/pre-Reformers and those who were not quite on board with the BCP and some of the Doctrines of the Church of England? The TOC might allude to my questions, but I'm not really up on the subject. Hence my post.

Milkman

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1285453#Comment_1285453

Hey Dale,

Yep! I looked at getting both, but I'll have to sell more milk to buy the set. Maybe the Survey first and then the other.

Do you have either? And, if so, comments/reviews?

Thanks.

Evidently, there's a second book, which is part of a set. The Book of Common Prayer: The Texts of 1549, 1559, and 1662.

https://www.logos.com/product/164691/the-oxford-guide-to-the-book-of-common-prayer-a-worldwide-survey

https://www.logos.com/product/162692/the-book-of-common-prayer-the-texts-of-1549-1559-and-1662

https://www.logos.com/product/44546/oxford-studies-on-the-book-of-common-prayer

Dale E Heath

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1285462#Comment_1285462

Sorry, I'm like Rosie, collecting, but not reading. One of these days................[:(]

There is a review on the second volume posted at the book's link.

Milkman

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1285471#Comment_1285471

[Y]

Sorry, I'm like Rosie, collecting, but not reading. One of these days................

Yasmin Stephen

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1285461#Comment_1285461

Any idea if the Book deals with the push-back from the Puritans/pre-Reformers and those who were not quite on board with the BCP and some of the Doctrines of the Church of England? The TOC might allude to my questions, but I'm not really up on the subject. Hence my post.

An internal search found 31 mentions of Puritan.

The rest of the mentions seem to be along the same lines. Adding myself to the 'want to read one day' group 😛

Milkman

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1285474#Comment_1285474

Thanks. Nice quote from the Cheshire curate...[:P]

Any idea if the Book deals with the push-back from the Puritans/pre-Reformers and those who were not quite on board with the BCP and some of the Doctrines of the Church of England? The TOC might allude to my questions, but I'm not really up on the subject. Hence my post.

An internal search found 31 mentions of Puritan.

The rest of the mentions seem to be along the same lines. Adding myself to the 'want to read one day' group 😛

Kiyah

This book is a study of Anglicanism and includes the origins and impetus for the Book of Common Prayer:

The Study of Anglicanism | Logos Bible Software

Also, don't forget to use the Factbook entry on the Book of Common Prayer to lead you to info you may already have in your library.

Milkman

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1285503#Comment_1285503

Thanks, Kiyah! That looks like a great book and thanks for the Factbook search.

Decisions, decisions [Y]

This book is a study of Anglicanism and includes the origins and impetus for the Book of Common Prayer:

The Study of Anglicanism | Logos Bible Software

Also, don't forget to use the Factbook entry on the Book of Common Prayer to lead you to info you may already have in your library.

MJ. Smith

My first recommendation is

Blunt, John Henry, ed. The Annotated Book of Common Prayer. Revised and Enlarged Edition. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1889.

and any of these three

Dearmer, Percy. Everyman’s History of the Prayer Book. London; Oxford; Milwaukee, WI: A. R. Mowbray & Co.; The Young Churchman Co., 1912.
Pullan, Leighton. The History of the Book of Common Prayer. Edited by W. C. E. Newbolt and F. E. Brightman. The Oxford Library of Practical Theology. London; New York; Bombay: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1900.
Maude, J. H. The History of the Book of Common Prayer. Edited by Leighton Pullan. Second Edition. Oxford Church Text Books. London: Rivingtons, 1900.

The world-wide survey you mention is also a favorite

MJ. Smith

My first recommendation is

Blunt, John Henry, ed. The Annotated Book of Common Prayer. Revised and Enlarged Edition. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1889.

and any of these three

Dearmer, Percy. Everyman’s History of the Prayer Book. London; Oxford; Milwaukee, WI: A. R. Mowbray & Co.; The Young Churchman Co., 1912.
Pullan, Leighton. The History of the Book of Common Prayer. Edited by W. C. E. Newbolt and F. E. Brightman. The Oxford Library of Practical Theology. London; New York; Bombay: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1900.
Maude, J. H. The History of the Book of Common Prayer. Edited by Leighton Pullan. Second Edition. Oxford Church Text Books. London: Rivingtons, 1900.

The world-wide survey you mention is also a favorite.

As for Puritans, I've avoided them since Rebecca Nurse and Anne Marbury Hutchinson ... their liturgy isn't particularly interesting.

Kiyah

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1285602#Comment_1285602

In addition to MJ's suggestions, here's another book that I found in my library. I haven't read it so I can't vouch for it but here it is.

A Short History of the Book of Common Prayer | Logos Bible Software