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The 1928 ''Book of Common Prayer'' was the official primary
liturgical book A liturgical book, or service book, is a book published by the authority of a church body that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official Church service, religious services. Christianity Roman Rite In the Roman Rite of ...
of the U.S.-based Episcopal Church from 1928 to 1979. An edition in the same tradition as other versions of the ''
Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...
'' used by the churches within the
Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is a Christian Full communion, communion consisting of the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, ...
and
Anglicanism Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
generally, it contains both the forms of the Eucharistic liturgy and the
Daily Office In the practice of Christianity, canonical hours mark the divisions of the day in terms of fixed times of prayer at regular intervals. A book of hours, chiefly a breviary, normally contains a version of, or selection from, such prayers. In t ...
, as well as additional public
liturgies Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a community, communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, ...
and personal devotions. It was the third major revision of the ''Book of Common Prayer'' adopted by the Episcopal Church, succeeding the 1892 edition and being replaced by the 1979 ''Book of Common Prayer''.


Background

Following the
English Reformation The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...
and the separation of the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
from the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, the
liturgies Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a community, communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, ...
of
Anglicanism Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
were transcribed into English. The first such production was the 1549 ''Book of Common Prayer'', traditionally considered to be work of
Thomas Cranmer Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a theologian, leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He is honoured as a Oxford Martyrs, martyr ...
, which replaced both the
missal A missal is a liturgical book containing instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the liturgical year. Versions differ across liturgical tradition, period, and purpose, with some missals intended to enable a priest ...
s and breviaries of Catholic usage. Among these liturgies were the Communion service and
canonical hours In the practice of Christianity, canonical hours mark the divisions of the day in terms of Fixed prayer times#Christianity, fixed times of prayer at regular intervals. A book of hours, chiefly a breviary, normally contains a version of, or sel ...
of
Matins Matins (also Mattins) is a canonical hour in Christian liturgy, originally sung during the darkness of early morning (between midnight and dawn). The earliest use of the term was in reference to the canonical hour, also called the vigil, which w ...
and
Evensong Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. It is loosely based on the canonical hours of vespers and compline. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which ...
, with the addition of the Ordinal containing the form for the consecration of bishops, priests, and
deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...
s in 1550. Under
Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...
, the 1552 ''Book of Common Prayer'' incorporated more radically Protestant reforms, a process that continued with 1559 edition approved under
Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...
.


American prayer books

Prior to the consecration of
Samuel Seabury Samuel Seabury (November 30, 1729February 25, 1796) was the first American Episcopal bishop, the second Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, and the first Bishop of Connecticut. He was a leading Loyalis ...
by the Episcopal Church of Scotland as the first American Anglican bishop to not accept the
English Crown This list of kings and reigning queens of the Kingdom of England begins with Alfred the Great, who initially ruled Wessex, one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which later made up modern England. Alfred styled himself king of the Anglo-Sax ...
and the establishment of the independent Episcopal Church after the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
, the Church of England had operated in what would become the United States using the liturgies as defined in the 1662 ''Book of Common Prayer''.
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
n Episcopal priests William Smith and William White created the first widely used American edition of the prayer book in 1786 as a "proposed" text based on the 1662 prayer book. A further revision with a greater departure from the English 1662 edition was approved for regular usage by the newly-established Episcopal Church in 1789. Notably, the Eucharistic prayers of this approved edition included a similar
Epiclesis The epiclesis (also spelled epiklesis; from , ) refers to the invocation of one or several gods. In ancient Greek religion, the epiclesis was the epithet used as the surname given to a deity in religious contexts. The term was borrowed into the Ch ...
invoking the
Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...
as that present in
Eastern Christian Eastern Christianity comprises Christianity, Christian traditions and Christian denomination, church families that originally developed during Classical antiquity, classical and late antiquity in the Eastern Mediterranean region or locations fu ...
rituals and the Episcopal Church of Scotland's liturgy. Proposals to remove the Nicene and
Athanasian Creed The Athanasian Creed—also called the ''Quicunque Vult'' (or ''Quicumque Vult''), which is both its Latin name and its opening words, meaning "Whosoever wishes"—is a Christian statement of belief focused on Trinitarian doctrine and Christolo ...
s faced successful objections from both a caucus of
High Church A ''high church'' is a Christian Church whose beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, Christian liturgy, liturgy, and Christian theology, theology emphasize "ritual, priestly authority, ndsacraments," and a standard liturgy. Although ...
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
ns and English bishops who had been consulted on the prayer book's production. Revisions of the 1789 ''Book of Common Prayer'', known as "Standard Editions", were promulgated by the General Convention in 1793, 1822, 1832, 1838, 1845, and 1871 with notes regarding changes. The 1789 edition would be replaced in 1892 by a new edition of the prayer book considered a "conservative" revision of its predecessor. The 1892 ''Book of Common Prayer'' was the first American prayer book to have a standard edition made which further printings were to be compared against and inserted rubrical emphasis on offering Communion to all present. Among the alterations were several derived from edits in a draft liturgy produced by the Scottish Episcopal Church in 1889. While the 1892 prayer book was not a complete revision, it indicated that the prayer book was changeable.


Revision and introduction

The pressure for additional revision after the adoption of the 1892 prayer book continued until the 1928 General Convention adopted the 1928 prayer book. This adoption came after a revision effort that began in 1913 with the creation of a commission following efforts by Clifon Macon in the Diocese of California during the preceding year. This commission—which included bishops, priests, and laymen—recommended several changes to the prayer book in their first report. These included alterations with doctrinal implications—such as the removal of a prayer that identified disastrous weather as divine punishment for sin—that were approved by the General Convention. Under the leadership of Cortlandt Whitehead and, after his 1922 death, Charles L. Slattery, the commission presented book-length reports at four further General Conventions, resulting in review and debate with varying outcomes. At the 1922 General Convention, the conservative view on revision dissipated; the revision process was completed at the 1925 convention. Final approval came in 1928. Among the significant changes present in the 1928 prayer book included the excision of "extreme
Calvinism Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyteri ...
", diminished emphasis on human sinfulness, and alteration of the matrimonial service such that the pledges were more similar between husband and wife. The 1928 prayer book began a general shift from the medieval patterns of the Visitation of the Sick, which had generally interpreted sickness as both incurable and as punishment, but the new prayer book did not entirely omit these earlier prayers. The third Good Friday collect was altered to omit what was deemed an "unwarranted slur" against Jews that had been present since the 1549 prayer book.


Use and replacement


Post-1979 usage

The Episcopal Church authorized bishops to permit 1928 prayer book liturgies to be celebrated within their dioceses at the same 1979 General Convention that approved the 1979 prayer book. Usage under this provision required celebration according to the 1979 lectionary. The 2000 General Convention revised these permissions, assigning the 1928 prayer book to the same category of permissions given to supplemental liturgies approved post-1979. In 1991, the Church of the Good Shepherd, an anglo-catholic Episcopal Church parish in Rosemont, Pennsylvania, published the '' Anglican Service Book'' as a "traditional language adaptation of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer." Besides offering the Rite I services of the 1979 prayer book, offered traditional-language versions of the 1979 prayer book's contemporary-language prayers. The Psalter is that of the 1928 prayer book.


Contents

The 1928 prayer book is organized with the
Daily Office In the practice of Christianity, canonical hours mark the divisions of the day in terms of fixed times of prayer at regular intervals. A book of hours, chiefly a breviary, normally contains a version of, or selection from, such prayers. In t ...
s, including
Morning Morning is either the period from sunrise to noon, or the period from midnight to noon. In the first definition it is preceded by the twilight period of dawn, and there are no exact times for when morning begins (also true of evening and nigh ...
and Evening Prayer, towards the front. The middle section of the book contains the Order for the Holy Communion with associated
collect The collect ( ) is a short general prayer of a particular structure used in Christian liturgy. Collects come up in the liturgies of Catholic, Lutheran, or Anglican churches, among others. Etymology The word is first seen as Latin ''collēcta'' ...
s and Scriptural readings. The rear of the text is devoted to the Occasional Offices, including those
baptism Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...
, matrimony, and burial. Like other Books of Common Prayer and the
King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by ...
, the 1928 prayer book does not capitalize pronouns when referring to
God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
. Massey H. Shepherd–who played a significant role in creating the 1979 prayer book–said that the Thirty-nine Articles as they appear in the 1928 prayer book "should be interpreted in light of the teaching of the entire Prayer Book. They are not a norm by which the rest of the Prayer Book must of necessity be judged and explained."


Daily Office

The penitential sentences prefacing the 1892 prayer book's Daily Offices were deleted in favor for seasonal emphasis. However, despite the popularity of the practice, rubrics for
sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present context ...
s were not inserted into the 1928 prayer book's Daily Offices, keeping with the 1892 and other earlier prayer books. The pattern for reading Scriptural lessons in the 1928 prayer book deviates significantly from Cranmer's lectionary, favoring weekday lessons to be read "in course". This arrangement sees books of the Bible read from beginning to end with some omissions. The 1928 prayer book's lessons were also designed to be relevant to the seasons of the liturgical calendar. On October 5, 1943 a new daily lectionary was approved for use in the Daily Office. It provided for alternate psalms in the daily readings.


Holy Communion

The 1928 prayer book contains the form of the Holy Communion service–titled the ''Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper or the Holy Communion''–before the collects, epistles, and gospels. A new rubric was inserted with the 1928 prayer book which permitted a deacon to celebrate the Communion office ending at the gospel when a priest was absent. As in other prior English prayer books, the 1928 prayer book includes a rubric permitting sermons during the celebration of the Eucharist. Due to growing opposition to the
Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (), or the Decalogue (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , ), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were given by YHWH to Moses. The text of the Ten ...
in the Communion service on the grounds that they had lost their relevancy and meaning in the modern world, permission was granted that significant portions might be omitted. The portions authorized for omission were printed inset from the rest of the commandments. The revising commission had unsuccessfully proposed that they be followed by "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye also love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also one another." Unlike other English and American prayer book revisions which had introduced few new collects, the 1928 edition added 15 across various offices including the Holy Communion. Despite there only being one formal fixed Postcommunion thanksgiving, changes between the
1550 ordinal The Edwardine Ordinals are two ordinals primarily written by Thomas Cranmer as influenced by Martin Bucer and first published under Edward VI, the first in 1550 and the second in 1552, for the Church of England. Both liturgical books were intend ...
and the 1552 prayer book resulted in a longstanding tradition wherein the Commendatory Prayers were treated as "Postcommunions"; this tradition was formally authorized in the 1928 proposed English prayer book and 1929 ''Scottish Prayer Book'' while a rubric in the 1928 American prayer book failed to completely prevent the practice. The 1789 prayer book permitted a "
hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...
" after the
Consecration Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...
, with the 1928 prayer book placing this after the Prayer of Humble Access and during the Breaking of Bread and the Communion. Despite the 1928 proposal to restore the ''
Agnus Dei is the Latin name under which the "Lamb of God" is honoured within Christian liturgies descending from the historic Latin liturgical tradition, including those of Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism and Anglicanism. It is the name given to a spec ...
'' narrowly failing, the view of the ''Agnus Dei'' as a "hymn" allowed its singing.


Occasional Offices

Among the offices included within the 1928 prayer book are those for
baptism Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...
,
confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant (religion), covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. The ceremony typically involves laying on o ...
, marriage, illness, and burial. The burial office introduced a new collect that asks for a growth of both knowledge and love of
God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
; this prayer was retained in the 1979 prayer book's Rite I form. The 1928 prayer book also introduced several prayers for the dead. This type of prayer—which had been absent since the 1552 prayer book—was inserted in the context of the post–
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
world, where memory of the dead was part of the public consciousness. The Visitation of the Sick was significantly altered from its 1892 guise with the intent of removing "so gloomy, so medieval" theology that had prevented its regular use in ministry. The new office was intended to impart hope on the sick, with joyful psalms introduced. Abbreviated forms of the confession and absolution were similarly added.


Notes


References

{{Portalbar, Books, Christianity, History, United States 1928 books 1928 in Christianity 1928 in the United States Anglo-Catholicism Book of Common Prayer Episcopal Church (United States) King James Version