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translated from the Latin by Thomas Norton, 1570 A.D.
The famous Large Catechism, transcribed by Irene C. Teas.
It is in html format, with footnotes. Some minor navigation tools and notes are missing.
(Posted 2/4/2002)
To view and read online click here. To download a zip archive containing the entire Catechism in Microsoft Word format, click here.
by WG Wilson and JH Templeton
First published in 1962 in Dublin by the Association for Promoting Christian Knowledge, this book provides a brief introduction to the historic Anglican Way through the lens of the Thirty-nine Articles.
Transcription by Irene C Teas, whose web pages, Anglican Books Revitalized, contain many other Anglican titles
To view and read online click here
by Anthony Sparrow (1672)
A fascinating commentary on the entirety of the 1662 BCP, long considered one of the "standards" of classical Anglican divinity, but, like so much of such material, long fallen by the wayside.
Hosted by Project Canterbury, the leading on-line resource for documents pertaining to the classical Anglican Way.
To view and read online click here
maintained by Chad Wohlers
This is a superb resource, with most English language editions of the Book of Common Prayer available in various electronic formats either on the site or through links to other sites.
Among the many resources are:
Many other editions of the BCP are available here, as are a number of works related to the BCP, and links to online books about the BCP.
To view and read online click here
Episcopal Innovations 1960-2004: Theological and Historical Reflection on the Current Crisis in ECUSA by Dr. Peter Toon, The Preservation Press of the Prayer Book Society: If you seriously wish to know what changes that the ECUSA must undergo in order to conform itself to the biblical, Reformed Catholicism of the Anglican Way, then this 64 page booklet is a necessary read! It explains what went wrong between 1960 and 2004 and thus shows what must be put right in 2006.
by Dr. Peter Toon, The Preservation Press of the Prayer Book Society: The Episcopal Church has presented to the whole Anglican world a book, To Set our Hope on Christ, in which it explains its commitment to the blessing of same-sex couples and ordaining of persons in these covenanted unions. This 64 page booklet by Dr Toon deals primarily with the theological methods used by the Presiding Bishop and his team of writers to justify these innovations. He shows that the methods used to study Scripture and develop doctrine in the Episcopal leadership are of such a kind as always to produce innovations, heresy and error! What he says has implications for much of what the General Convention has produced and will produce.
74 pp in pdf format; By The Rev'd J.S.S. Patterson, Rector, St. Andrews Anglican Church, Asheboro, NC (AMiA), Member of the Board of the PBS
From the Introduction
In July 2003 a paper entitled "A Report of the Study Concerning
the Ordination of Women Undertaken by the Anglican Mission in
America: A Survey of the Leading Theological Convictions" (henceforth
the "Report") was made public.1 Subsequently the archbishop of the
Anglican Mission in America, the Most Reverend Emmanuel Kolini
(Archbishop of the Episcopal Province of Rwanda) decided to allow only
men to be ordained as presbyters (priests) and consecrated as bishops,
but to permit both men and women to be made deacons.
Though the Report gives considerable attention to the question as to whether the Scriptures will allow women to be ordained as priests or consecrated as bishops, only 9 of its 141 pages (a modest 6% of its length) are given explicitly to the question of the diaconate. I think there is more that must be said on this matter. This paper is intended to expand and deepen our discussion of the diaconate, thereby inviting further reflection upon the AMiA's current practice.
(original title “A Learned Disc=ourse on Justification, Works, and how the Foundation of Faith is overthrown”)
Hooker is amongst the most important of Anglican theologians and his fame rests particularly with his book, Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, which is a massive defense of the Church of England and its Reformed Catholic Faith.
He also wrote other things and of these none is more important than his Tractate of 1586 which deals with these themes: What is the foundation or basis of Christianity? Does the Church of Rome hold to the true foundation? In what ways does the doctrine of justification believed, taught and confessed by the Church of England differ from the doctrine of the Church of Rome? What are the basic differences in mindset between the Puritan and the Anglican within the Church of England of the Elizabethan Settlement of 1559? Is it reasonable to suppose that the baptized English of earlier times who lived under Popery were actually saved by grace even though they were surrounded by superstition and error in the church?
This Tractate began its existence as several sermons preached in The Temple Church, London to barristers, who were mostly sympathetic to the Puritan calls for more reformation in a “Calvinistic” direction of the Established Church. Hooker was the Master (Rector) there and he eventually prepared for publication as one Discourse the texts of the sermons.
Hooker’s literary style is polished but difficult for many people today to appreciate and master, due to the long sentences and complex syntax. Therefore, in this booklet of 64 pages the Discourse has been carefully rendered into a simplified English and given a new title in order to make more accessible Hooker’s profound teaching to those who struggle with his difficult style.
There is a historical and theological introduction before the Text of the Tractate as a further help to the reader appreciate what Hooker had to say.
Cost $7.50 including shipping. Send check to, The Prayer Book Society, P.O. Box 35220, Philadelphia, PA 19128-0220
This is a brief introduction to the 39 Articles from the Rt. Rev. Dr. Alfred Barry's The Teacher's Prayer Book,
a popular text book in church colleges a century ago. The full text is available in pdf format on the CD-ROM The Book of Common Prayer: Six Commentaries, (which, as its title suggests, contains 5 other excellent commentaries on the historic Book Of Common Prayer) at The Anglican Marketplace.
Dr. Barry lived from 1826 until 1910, and was the third Bishop of Sydney and Primate of Australia in the latter part of the 19th century. To learn more about him, visit his entry in Wikipedia or in The Australian Dictionary of Biography Online Edition.
Since the 1960s, it has been taken for granted by most liturgists, and those influenced by them, that in the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, when Archbishop Cranmer was active as a reformer, the customary form of address to an individual person was “thou/thee.” From this basis, the argument has been made that if Cranmer used the customary form in his liturgy, we today should use today the contemporary customary form, which is “you.” So for him it was “the Thou-God” and for us it should be “the You-God.”
However, anyone who is familiar with the literature of the sixteenth century, including the works of William Shakespeare, knows that in certain important spheres of English society the customary address to an individual person was not “thou” but “you.” At Court, and in the presence of the nobility and aristocracy, Archbishop Cranmer addressed the King and others (but not servants and social inferiors) as “you.” Henry VIII was “Your Majesty.” Cranmer himself as the Primate of all England was “Your Grace,” and so were all the Dukes and Duchesses. In his letters to the Ministers of State, Cranmer addressed them as “you.”
Why this “strange” usage? The answer is simple. English had been influenced by French style in the thirteenth century to use the plural form of the second person as if it were singular. Examples of it may be seen in the writings of Geoffrey Chaucer of the fourteenth century. By the sixteenth century this style was well established and the second person plural was used as a singular as a form of respect, and as such could be extended on occasion to people outside the highest ranks. In contrast, “thou” was used between equals in society generally as well as to inferiors by the socially superior.
