1552 Book of Common Prayer-Three Proximate Causes

Three Causes of the 1552 Book of Common Prayer, England’s Worship Manual by the Rev. Donald Philip Veitch

The English Reformation of the 16th century was an epochal event in Western Civilization with as many causes as there were effects. Although beyond the present scope, this reformation of the 1300-year old Church of England had deep antecedents in the 15th century with serious consequences for 16th-17th century England and America. By dint of demand—the width of this subject—the focus is narrowed to the 1552 Book of Common Prayer edited by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and associates. This Book of Common Prayer, by decree of King and Parliament, became the “worship book” imposed on approximately eight-nine thousand English parishes. This 1552 BCP in its slightly edited 1662 version—very slight—would be used throughout worldwide Anglicanism until the 1960’s. Travel anywhere during this 400-year period, attend an Anglican service, and it would be the same, whether in London, Nigeria or Sydney, Australia. This BCP, a comprehensive and government-ordered “book of prayers” for the national church, shaped English doctrine, worship and piety until the mid-twentieth century. Amongst a plethora of causes for this book, attention is directed to three proximate causes that shaped the 1552 Book of Common Prayer. Those three proximate causes of the 1552 Book of Common Prayer were: 1000 years of history preceding 1552 BCP, the Continental Reformation, and Cranmer’s desire to educate England in the best of the past with a view to future generations.

The first cause in our three-fold thread of causes for the 1552 Book of Common Prayer was one thousand years of a history predating this worship manual. “Prayer Books,” called Missals during this period, were centuries-old and were used throughout Western nations in churches, schools, convents and monasteries. This is difficult to appreciate, to wit, 1000 years of preceding history; many American Churchmen think the Church began on their own home turf, with their own religious experience or with the American colonies, but European and English history is recalibrative. Englishmen had been in the Roman fold of Western Christendom since the Synod of Whitby, 662 C.E., the period of transition from Celtic to Roman Christianity. For centuries, English families were accustomed to liturgical worship that was ordered, directed, read and written services—again, as the “work of worship.” (Liturgy means "work," the work of worship--hearing, focussing, concentrating, learning and responding, not therapy and entertainment.) Unified liturgical patterns dominated English hamlets, villages and cities with variations, e.g. the York, Sarum, and Salisbury Missals. But essentially, a national, unified, ordered, written, historic and governing worship pattern prevailed. By contrast, for better or worse, American Protestants—with their love of revivalism, spontaneity, independence, individualism and their 19th-20th century creed, “No Creed but Christ”— have difficulty appreciating ordered, disciplined and written liturgies. Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Anabaptists,, Pentecostaliststs and other enthusiasts have opposed written liturgies as a matter of principle. “Too repressive,” “too restrictive,” “spiritually dead,” “too controlling,” “too traditional,” and “too heavy” are the remonstrations from many American quarters. “Who can pray a written prayer?” is often heard. For Archbishop Cranmer and conservative Reformers in England, however, 1000 years of liturgical worship was the cause to retain rather than to dispose of liturgy, order, and direction. If there was to be revision of the old Prayer Book, it would be conservative, not radical. As an editor, Cranmer would not “throw the baby out with the wash.” It was inconceivable that non-liturgical worship would be left to the discretion of individual clerics or church members. As an historian and theologian, Cranmer would not “reinvent the wheel.” Individualism and “worship freedom” was not—quite simply—within Cranmer’s worldview. Hence, the English Reformer retained and revised a “book” of worship, the 1552 BCP, in the consciousness of 1000 years preceding it—requiring a “liturgical” pattern. This is why the Church of England has always claimed to be a church of history and ancient traditions—with its “reformed” Prayer Book.

The second cause in the three-fold strand of causes for the reformed 1552 Book of Common Prayer was the Continental Reformation that had begun in Germany and Switzerland from 1517 to 1552. If Cranmer retained and revised the book of worship with its 1000-year pedigree and with his consciousness of that pedigree, Cranmer nonetheless would edit the Prayer Book with Reformation insights. It is a fair to say that Luther’s Reformation in Germany became, over time, England’s. It is also fair to say that the Swiss Reformers, e.g. Zwingli, Vermigli, Bucer, Coverdale, Calvin, and others preceded and influenced the English Reformation. By turns, the Continental Reformation influenced Cranmer’s theology and, by more turns in a complex process, would shape the revised and reformed 1552 Book of Common Prayer.

In expanding on this second cause—the Continental Reformation—there were at least two lasting results for the revised 1552 BCP: vernacular worship and a Lutheran-Calvinistic product. Briefly touching on these two effects will emphasize this second cause—the larger Reformation as a cause for revision.

The first effect—for emphasis on the second cause above—was an English Prayer Book, English Bible, and English worship. The vernacular Bible was the order of the day. The transition is also hard for Americans to understand—the switch from Latin to English worship. For centuries, Latin services were conducted. Martin Luther had translated the Latin Bible into German in 1519—for use in the churches. Luther began conducting worship in German. William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale, two contemporaries of Cranmer, had translated the Bible into English. Zwingli of Switzerland was using the German Bible as well as German liturgies. The printing presses were rolling. Initially, England was behind the power curve in terms of the Continental Reformation thanks to Henry VIII, but eventually caught up. The Reformation result? Cranmer’s 1552 Book of Common Prayer, an English Prayer Book, an English Bible, and English worship—England and the West was never the same.

A second effect—illustrative of the second cause of the 1552 Book of Common Prayer—was a Lutheran-Calvinistic theology blended with the gems of 1000 years before it. Lutheran literature was getting reviews at Oxford, but most notably at Cambridge. One thinks of the famous “White Horse Inn” at Cambridge where scholars gathered to discuss Luther’s tracts and books—usually over a few pints of ale. Although Cranmer was a Cambridge don during the 1520’s, he was a late-comer to Lutheran and Calvinist perspectives. Early in his career, he was anti-Lutheran. By 1552, however, with much water under the bridge, he had passed from a Lutheran phase to a Calvinistic one. Calvin’s books were also being read at Cambridge. Cranmer—ever judicious and ever cautious as the scholarly marginalia indicates in his books—moved slowly. After Henry VIII died 1547 and his Protestant son ascended to the throne, Edward VI, the mature Cranmer—Lutheran at points, but decisively Calvinistic by 1550—brought Reformation insights to the reformed Prayer Book. The old prayer book was pruned of sacerdotalism, priest-craft, invocation of saints, patron saints, pilgrimages, relics-worship (sources of large revenues, e.g. Walsingham Shrine), worship of Mary, Roman supremacy in doctrine, purgatory, Masses, transubstantiation, and works-based salvation, to mention a few leading matters. Acknowledging these Reformation influences, some have said correctly that the 1552 Book of Common Prayer was a via media, a mid-way point between Wittenberg (Luther) and Geneva (Calvin). In this reviewer’s view, the BCP was a Calvinistic chick laid by a Lutheran egg. The 1552 BCP was a Protestant and Reformed effect, “caused” by the Continental Reformation.

Having illustrated two effects arising from the second cause—the Reformation as a cause for 1552 Book of Common Prayer—and in returning to the three-fold string of causes, the third cause for the 1552 Book of Common Prayer was Cranmer’s desire to educate England—all eight-nine thousand churches—in the best of the past with a view to the education of future generations. As noted, Cranmer was conscious of the 1000-year history of the Church of England. He was a Cambridge don who studied the church fathers and knew the classics. He conserved the best prayers, hymns and lections from the earlier Gallican and Roman liturgies. He retained such historic gems as the Te Deum Laudamus, Benedicite Omnia Opera (retaining the Latin hymn titles, yet with these two hymns in English), and numerous prayers of the classics, e.g. St. Chrysostom’s General Thanksgiving. As an educated Churchman—as all the Reformers were, he knew the Bible and history well enough to see the divergences between the theology and worship patterns of the early church (100 C.E.-500 C.E.) and those of the late medieval church (1000 C.E.-1550 C.E.) Without tossing the best, Cranmer brought doctrine and worship back to the earliest centuries of the church. But, as noted, he did this with an English Prayer Book and Engish Bible readings. While the rank and file Churchman was illiterate, they understood English. In fact, this is the reason for the word “Common” in the title, The Book of “Common” Prayer. Cranmer fully believed that congregations—in time—could learn, “read” the prayers (“reading” does not mean “not praying”), hear, think, and worship “in common.” Rightly, Cranmer believed that England’s literacy would rise with congregational involvement—and it did. As a nation’s Chief Pastor and educator, Cranmer’s 1552 Book of Common Prayer was a nationwide program to educate England in the best of the past with a view to future generations.

This transformative event called the English Reformation had antecedents in the 15th century with enormous consequences for 16th-17th century England. Given the scope of the subject, the focus was narrowed to The 1552 Book of Common Prayer. By decree of King and Parliament, this “worship book” was imposed on a nation, shaping its doctrine, worship and piety until the mid-twentieth century. Amongst many causes, three were cited: 1000 years of previous history, the Reformation on the continent (two effects were cited to illustrate this point), and Cranmer’s desire to educate England in the best of the past while pastorally shepherding future generations. Just as there were many causes for this classic Book of Common Prayer, of which three were named—there were many other consequences, one of which was democracy. But that story--democracy--is for another day.