History of

The  Book  of  Common  Prayer

The Archbishop of Canterbury , Thomas Cranmer was the genius behind the literary masterpiece that has come to be known as the Book of Common Prayer.  Under the influence of King Edward VI, Cranmer orchestrated a transformed combination of the Roman missal, breviary, graduale and ordinale into an English liturgy.  The initial Prayer Book was an English simplification, and more importantly, a reform of the old Latin services.  This first book was a “cautiously reformed document,” printed under the auspices of Parliament and enforced by the first Act of Uniformity in January, 1549.  Even so, conservatives thought he had gone too far with the changes and omissions, while the reformers thought it retained too much of the old.  This book was revised soon after it was published.

The second Prayer Book, issued in 1552, was in use only about eight months before Edward died and his sister Mary came to power.  Mary had been raised in France and was devoutly Catholic.  When she assumed the throne, she declared England to be a Catholic country and converted the churches back to Catholicism.  The Book of Common Prayer was removed and clerical celibacy re-imposed.  In 1559, under Elizabeth I, the Prayer Book of 1552 was restored in a slightly altered version (1559 book).  It was revised again in 1604.

 From 1645 to 1660, under the Commonwealth and Protectorate, the prayer book was suppressed.  In a new revision after Charles II returned to the throne, it was again declared the only legal service book for use in England by an Act of Uniformity (1662).  The 1662 Book of Common Prayer is the edition which is still in use today by the Church of England.

The founding fathers of the United States of America were essentially Anglican.  They wanted to hold on to their faith but, at the same time, sever the ties to England .  Thus, the First General Convention adopted a revised version of England ’s 1662 book, the 1786 proposed U. S. Book of Common Prayer.  This book eliminated all references to England , it’s monarchs, and the Nicene Creed as well.

Shortly thereafter, the 1789 American Book of Common Prayer restored the Nicene Creed to the liturgy but employed the Scottish Communion Service of 1764 as its eucharistic service.  The 1789 book served the Episcopal church for over 100 years until the American church undertook a conservative revision of it's prayer book in 1892.  The 1892 American Book of Common Prayer changed little from its predecessor.  A much more sweeping revision came out in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. 

The 1928 prayer book remained the standard until the 1960’s when a new procedure was approved for revising prayer books.  Proposed services were evaluated on a trial basis before being adopted.  New liturgies were combined in books and evaluated in actual parishes across America (the “Green Book” of 1970 and the “Zebra Book” of 1973).  Eventually the 1976 General Convention approved the proposed prayer book which was titled the 1979 Book of Common Prayer.  This prayer book is current today.

The 1979 Book of Common Prayer is available in print from the Episcopal Bookstore. 

In addition, computer-downloadable versions are available here.

The 1979 BCP is also available in a free download version for the Palm Pilot (or compatible digital assistant).

 Other Resources:  Books about the Book of Common Prayer can be ordered from The Virtual Bookstore.

Website designed and created by Gary Lobdell  --  9/2003