Christian Cyclopedia

Book of Common Prayer.

1. Official service book of the Ch. of Eng. and (with nat. variations) of the Angl. Communion. Contains all public rites and services of the Angl. Ch., including Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, Communion, Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage, Burial, Psalter, ordination and consecration orders, 39 Articles of Religion.

2. The First Prayer Book of Edward VI, largely the work of Cranmer,* was confirmed by Parliament and made obligatory for all Eng. chs. through the Act of Uniformity 1549. Much of it was tr. from the Sarum* Rite (Salisbury). The first Prayer Book was also significantly influenced by the Consultation, a Ger. ch. order composed mostly by P. Melanchthon* and M. Bucer* and pub. by Hermann* von Wied.

3. After 1549 some extreme reformers became much more influential in Eng. As a result there was more agitation for a completely rev. Prayer Book. The Second Prayer Book of Edward VI appeared 1552. This rev., esp. influenced by the Swiss Reformation, was a radical departure from the 1549 ed.

4. In 1559, after the death of RC Queen Mary, Elizabeth* I restored the Prayer Book of 1552, with several significant conservative changes. This was the Third Prayer Book. In 1604 a Fourth Prayer Book appeared with only minor changes. The Fifth Prayer Book (1662), a rather thorough conservative rev., became the version still used in Eng.

The first American Prayer Book was issued 1789 by the first Gen. Conv. of the Prot. Episc. Ch., Philadelphia. In this version, suited to the Am. situation, one of the more significant changes from the Eng. version was the adoption of the Prayer of Consecration from the Scot. communion service. But the 1789 ed. differed in many respects from the Eng. version because of the influence of liberal elements in the Am. ch.

A thorough revision of the Am. version was made and adopted 1892. Changes in this version brought it into closer harmony with the Eng. ed. of 1662 and earlier versions. The Prayer Book now in use in US is the rev. of 1928. EFP

See also Anglican Confessions, 9; Presbyterian Confessions, 4.

M. H. Shepherd, Jr., The Oxford American Prayer Book Commentary (New York, 1950); W. K. L. Clarke and C. Harris, Liturgy and Worship: A Companion to the Prayer Books of the Anglican Communion (New York, 1932); Ritual Notes (London, 1956); E. Daniel, The Prayer-Book: Its History, Language, and Contents (London, 1889); F. Procter and W. H. Frere, History of the Book of Common Prayer, rev. and rewritten by W. H. Frere, new ed. (New York, 1915); J. W. Suter and G. J. Cleaveland, The American Book of Common Prayer: Its Origin and Development (New York, 1949); The Annotated Book of Common Prayer, ed. J. H. Blunt (London, 1895); E. L. Parsons and B. H. Jones, The American Prayer Book: Its Origins and Principles (New York, 1937); The Tutorial Prayer Book, eds. C. Neil and J. M. Willoughby (London, 1959); The Two Liturgies, AD 1549, and AD 1552: with Other Documents Set Forth by Authority in the Reign of King Edward VI, ed. J. Ketley (Cambridge, Eng., 1844); L. Pullan, History of the Book of Common Prayer (London, 1901).