First English Prayer Book

This is a wonderful book which makes available in modern spellings the Beautiful communion service from the Prayer Book of 1549. However, buyers beware! You are not really buying a re-printed copy of the First Prayer Book! The wedding service herein actually comes from the Second Prayer Book of King Edward VI and the Littany has been Edited to take out those nasty references to the Pope. So, you ought to look elsewhere if you're expecting to find the Church praying: "From the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities...Good Lord deliver us!" Finally, most of the rubrics have been edited too. Cranmer would be shocked to discover that a New Rubric has been added which permits the reservation of the Sacrament. Nonetheless, this book certainly does deserve high praise and accolades for making available a very historic piece of English literature. As far as issues of ecclesiology and liturgy are concerned, this book is also noteworthy for putting in people's hands the most Roman, most Catholic, and most historic version of the Anglican Communion service which the Anglican Communion has ever approved.

I do not pretend to know whether or not this book at all resembles the actual first "Book of Common Prayer". I will leave that to those who must know. What I can say is that this book is, in my opinion, far superior to anything else called "The Book of Common Prayer" that I have laid eyes upon. I also am not concerned in the slightest as to whether Cranmer would like how it is used, or by whom. Once we leave something for future generations, we have no more hold upon it. It was his book only until he had it published. From that day onward it meant whatever it meant to those who drew meaning from it. I use this little book constantly in my capacity as curate of a cathedral parish; both for well worded collects, and as a reference for my preaching.

the book, itself, is a very well written and wonderful copy of what i believe is one of the most important pieces of anglicanism. the book came in great quality and i have thoroughly enjoyed my purchase.

A bishop in the Episcopal church once said to me, 'We don't have a theology that we have to believe -- what we have is the prayerbook.' Please forgive the absence of context for this phrase -- while he would say that this statement in isolation is an exaggeration, and I would agree, nonetheless his statement serves to highlight both the importance of and the strength of the Book of Common Prayer. To be an Anglican (or Episcopalian), one does not have to subscribe to any particular systematic theological framework. One does not have to practice a particular brand of liturgical style. One does not have to have an approved politico-theological viewpoint. One can be a conservative, liberal or moderate; one can be high church, low church, or broad; one can be charismatic, evangelical, or mainline traditional -- one can be any number of things in a rich diversity of choices, and the Book of Common Prayer can still be the book upon which spirituality and worship is centred. Gerry Janzen, an Anglican professor at my seminary, said to me recently as we were lunching and having a fascinating and wide-ranging conversation (in a unique way that only Gerry Janzen is capable of doing) that he strives for that kind of memory and understanding that is so complete that one forgets what one has learned. He recounted to me his experience of working with his book on Job -- he had done a lot of research, development of ideas, writing, and organisation, and then set it aside for a time. When he picked up the topic later, he decided to begin by writing, and then go back to the research, other notes and writings he had done earlier. He was surprised to see, in comparing the work, that he had in fact duplicated much of the material -- he had internalised the information, incorporated it so well into his thinking and being, that it came forward without effort. It is this kind of relationship I feel I have developed with the Book of Common Prayer. The First English Prayer Book There are many versions and varieties of the BCP. It has been revised many times in the past several centuries (with varying degrees of support and controversy); it has been revised for local application by different national churches. A list of some of these, in addition to some commentaries, is provided at the conclusion of this article. The tradition for all of these began with the first English Prayer Book, published by Thomas Cranmer in 1549. 'Based on medieval forms of worship, its language is both sublime and majestic. Later Prayer Books produced by the Anglican Communion are derived from it -- and in the eyes of many are inferior. All Christian denominations in England and America owe an incalculable debt to Cranmer's pioneering work.' Robert Van de Weyer edited this version of The First English Prayer Book, a compact edition of the 1549 version, laid out in an easily readable and usable format -- the BCP is always meant to be used, and, as the word common indicates, as something done in comm

Next to the King James Bible and the shakespearean corpus, Thomas Cranmer's prayer book stands as the premier example of the might and majesty of the English language. Moreover, the Book of Common Prayer has shaped countless Christian souls since its introduction in 1549 as well as being the liturgical source from which a host of other church orders have been mined. Quite literally, "Cranmer's Godly Order," as his prayer book is affectionately known amongst Anglicans, gave birth to and continues to nourish a Christian tradition. Robert Van de Weyer has done a great service to Anglicans--and to a host of other Christians seeking a piety grounded in history--by making Cranmer's first prayer book accessible to the modern church. This edition of the 1549 prayer book is intended for worship. Van de Weyer, the compiler and editor, makes that clear in his introduction. All the major services are here: Matins and Evensong, the Litany, the marriage and burial offices, Confirmation, the Catechism, Baptism and the Visitation of the Sick, and, of course, the Holy Communion. Also included are the Collects and the assigned Epistle and Gospel lessons for Sundays and holy days. Positively, the services are formatted for easy reading, with the rubrics in red, the archaic spelling updated, the versicles and responses bolded and the paragraphs adequately separated. The daily, regular and systematic recitation of the Psalter was (and is) a constituent part of the daily offices in the common prayer tradition, but sadly, Van de Weyer does not include the calendar to practice this. Moreover, he omits what must be the most memorable line from the Litany in which God's people pray for deliverance from the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and all his "detestable enormities." Though no explanation is given, I am certain the phrase was excised so as not to offend modern sensibilities in this ecumenical era. Notwithstanding the critiques of a purist, "The First English Prayer Book" is marvelous and much needed work. I thank Van de Weyer for this labor of love, and I commend it to anyone wanting to drink from the spiritual and linguistic well of Cranmer's Godly Order.