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The Book of Common Prayer is a sacred text in more than one sense. This brief, accessible survey examines the contents of the Prayer Book, as it is called, especially its principal services, as well as its origins, its revisions, and its sometimes controversial reception as a cultural icon and a focus of identity for Anglican Christianity.
List of contents
- Introduction
- PART I: CONTENTS
- 1: Divine Service
- 2: Preambles: Time and the Prayer Book
- 3: Occasional Services
- 4: Preambles: "But One Use"
- PART II: CONTINUITIES
- 5: Beginnings
- 6: Settling In
- 7: Disruption
- 8: Establishment
- 9: The Golden Age
- 10: Recessional
- PART III: CONTEXTS
- 11: The Prayer Book Printed
- 12: The Prayer Sung
- Appendix 1: Vesture
- Appendix 2: The Anglican Communion
About the author
Charles Hefling was a professor of systematic theology at Boston College for thirty years and served as editor-in-chief of The Anglican Theological Review. He has also taught at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA, and in the Diaconal Formation Program of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. He holds three degrees from Harvard University and was ordained to the ministry of The Episcopal Church in 1974.
Summary
The Book of Common Prayer is a sacred text in more than one sense. This brief, accessible survey examines the contents of the Prayer Book, as it is called, especially its principal services, as well as its origins, its revisions, and its sometimes controversial reception as a cultural icon and a focus of identity for Anglican Christianity.
