Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Tudor Musician John Sheppard (1515-1559): "The Lord's Prayer"

John Sheppard's "Lord's Prayer".

This Tudor musician was another professional musician who felt the swirl of the changes.  He lived from 1515 to 1559.

This music works for Cathedral and Collegiate foundations: the Cathedral tradition which survived in Anglicanism.  It works where parishes unite to pool resources.  The centrifugal forces of spin-offs inhibits such works, but, fortunately, universities continue the research and production of such works.

It could not survive or be replicated in smaller contexts: villages, towns, or smaller urban units.

Or, it will never survive in American Hillbilly circles. For these "strummers, drummers, and gummers," this transcends their small and limited imaginations.

My home parish, Mariners' Anglican, was and has been able, however, to maintain this level of musical skill in divine worship. Mariners' is a top-rate Anglican Church...a rarity in that it maintains orthodox theology too along with the old Prayer Book. 

Here's Mr. Sheppard's "Lord's Prayer." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMPXKqymD30
 

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