[A conversation between a
member of the Prayer Book Society (PBS)
and a parishioner of a modern Episcopal parish (ASB)]
ASB: Why do you want to preserve an old Book? What’s wrong with the current official Prayer Book of the Episcopal Church?
PBS: What is wrong with it is that it was given the wrong name! If you examine its layout & contents and then compare these with (a) the previous Prayer Books of the Episcopal Church and (b) modern Prayer Books from Canada and England you will see that it is UNLIKE the previous Prayer Books (editions of 1662, 1789, 1892 & 1928) and LIKE the modern Books which are called “Books of Alternative Services” in Canada and England.
ASB: So General Convention gave the Prayer Book of 1979 the wrong name and it is not “The Book of Common Prayer”?
PBS: Yes! What they ought to have done, following the lead of the Church of England and other Anglican Churches, was (a) to retain the classic, historical Book of Common Prayer (first edition 1549) and (b) to publish this 1979 Prayer Book as a “Book of Alternative services” or as “An American Prayer Book.” Then the new would have existed alongside the old. Calling a Book containing a variety and choice of services by the ancient name of “The Book of Common Prayer” both misleads people and also by implication rejects the full heritage of Common Prayer in English since 1549.
ASB: So The Book of Common Prayer has only one Rite (service) for Mattins, Evensong and Holy Communion and in the 1979 Book there are multiple forms so that the priest and parish have choice?
PBS: Yes, and there is more. Common Prayer is an important expression with a long history, first in Latin and then in English. It points to one basic, settled Form of Daily Prayer, Morning and Evening, for clergy and laity of the Church and also to set services with minimal internal variation for Holy Communion, Baptism, Marriage and the Burial of the Dead. However, with this unity and common order comes a freedom for its provisions to be used in the parish with little or much ceremonial, either said or sung, and at times that are acceptable locally. Further, the historic Prayer Book serves not only as a Prayer Book, providing services for every day of the year and for special occasions, but also it is an essential part of the doctrinal foundation of the Anglican Way, of reformed Catholicism. In other words, it is both a Liturgy and a Formulary. And it is the latter even when it is not being used as a Liturgy.
ASB: So, are you against the use of the 1979 Book or the use of the similar Books in Canada and England?
PBS: No, we are not against the use of Books of Alternative Services. But what we say is that (a) such Books are not editions of the Book of Common Prayer and (b) that the varied contents of such Books need to be interpreted doctrinally in the light of the doctrines of the Book of Common Prayer, in its capacity as a Formulary. This is precisely the position adopted by the Church in Canada and England when they introduced their new Books. But what happened in the USA was that the classic BCP was set aside and a BAS was put in its place and called the BCP! Thus the new book of varied services with a false name stands alone without a doctrinal foundation outside itself and it is open to a great variety of interpretations.
ASB: In short, you think that the Episcopal Church has abandoned the Anglican heritage.
PBS: Correct! In the 1970s the General Convention manipulated Episcopalians by giving the impression that it was only engaged in revising an historic Book when in fact it was working on a complete replacement of it, and all for the sake of imposing new doctrines and practices without the consent of the membership. And matters have not improved since 1979. The Church has continued to create new services and with each new batch there is a clear indication that their content is doctrinally speaking moving further away from the basic Christianity of the classic BCP. This is seen in such central areas as the naming of God, the naming of Christ, the nature of salvation, sexual ethics, and so on.
ASB: So what is your remedy?
PBS: Unfortunately there is no simple remedy. But as a major start, the Church needs to restore the classic BCP (in which is the Ordinal and are the Articles of Religion) as a Formulary, so that the ECUSA has the possibility of returning to the classic Anglican Way. With the BCP returned as a Formulary then it can be used for parish Liturgies. Also, the Book which is presently called “the BCP 1979” has to be renamed as a Book of Alternative Services, and then it can be used in the doctrinal light of the classic BCP. As to the modern developments in liturgy since 1979, these would need to be re-examined and maybe taken out of use.
ASB: You are talking of a revolution!
PBS: Perhaps. But since the Episcopal Church acted so radically in the 1970s rejecting its historic foundations and trying to create new ones acceptable to the new spirit of revolution arising in the 1960s, only a counter revolution can take this Church back to its doctrinal roots and heritage.