Archbishop Cranmer’s Immortal Bequest: The Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England

www.churchsociety.org/churchman/documents/Cman_106_1_Leuenberger.pdf

Archbishop Cranmer’s Immortal Bequest:
The Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England:
An Evangelistic Liturgy
Churchman 106/1 1992
Samuel Leuenberger

1. Introduction

Theological studies in England and the U.S.A. brought me into contact with the Anglican
Church and its liturgy, the Book of Common Prayer (1662).1 All important types of services2
like baptism, confirmation, holy matrimony, burial of the dead, holy communion and the
services of making, ordaining and consecrating bishops, priests and deacons3 are contained
therein.

The liturgies in this prayer book had a special attraction for me because of a certain
discovery: I noticed that legitimate elements from the Early Church have been integrated with
their aesthetic qualities intact without neglecting the most important factor: the liturgies,
particularly Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Holy Communion (the chief services)4 are
permeated through and through with a genuine reformed theology having revivalistic
elements. It was because I came to a living faith through the witness of evangelical circles in
the Anglo-Saxon world, that the importance of a revivalistically-oriented liturgy was so
relevant to me. It is often the case that liturgy and ceremony are rejected by evangelicallyminded churches. This fact became for me a challenge to show through the Book of Common Prayer that liturgy and revivalistic theology can go along together without contradicting one another. It became a concern to me to present the Book of Common Prayer authorized in 1662 as one of the most precious gems among Christian liturgies.

For more, see the Church Soc article at:
www.churchsociety.org/churchman/documents/Cman_106_1_Leuenberger.pdf