Book of Common Prayer (1979)

Book of Common Prayer (1979)
Name	Book of Common Prayer (1979)
Author	General Convention of the Episcopal Church (United States)
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Anglican liturgy
Publisher	Church Publishing Incorporated
Pub date	1979

Contents

Book of Common Prayer (1979) The 1979 Book of Common Prayer is the primary liturgical book of the Episcopal Church (United States), produced by the General Convention (Episcopal Church), revised amid debates involving the Anglican Communion, the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council, and theological currents from Oxford Movement, Tractarianism, Richard Hooker, and Thomas Cranmer. Its publication followed liturgical scholarship influenced by the Liturgical Movement, the Second Vatican Council, and comparative work with rites from the Church of England, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Church in Wales, and the Church of Ireland.

History and Development

The development of the 1979 prayer book began within committees formed by the General Convention (Episcopal Church), drawing on texts and proposals debated alongside figures from Seabury-Westcott House, the Society of Saint John the Evangelist, and academic centers such as Yale Divinity School, General Theological Seminary, and Harvard Divinity School. Drafts were influenced by liturgical experiments in parishes associated with Michael Ramsey, Rowan Williams, E. K. Sinclair, and scholarship by Dom Gregory Dix, Paul F. Bradshaw, and A. M. Ramsey. The revision process involved controversies mirrored in disputes such as those seen around the Oxford Movement and legislative debates reminiscent of the Canterbury Convocations and the English Reformation, leading to votes at the General Convention (1976) and ratification processes comparable to the reception of the Book of Common Prayer (1662).

The 1979 edition reorganized material into forms including the Order for Morning Prayer, the Holy Eucharist, and pastoral offices like the Baptism rite, the Confirmation rite, the Marriage service, the Funeral rites, and the Compline office, drawing structural models from the Apostolic Constitutions, Rite of Constantinople, and historic Anglican antecedents such as the Book of Common Prayer (1549), Book of Common Prayer (1552), and the Book of Common Prayer (1662). The text offers both a Rite I with traditional language and a Rite II with contemporary language, integrating scriptural readings from the King James Version, the Revised Standard Version, the New Revised Standard Version, and the lectionary patterns influenced by the International Consultation on English Texts and the Revised Common Lectionary. Lectionary provision, collects, and a Psalter connect the book to resources used in dioceses like New York (Diocese of New York), Chicago (Diocese of Chicago), and Los Angeles (Diocese of Los Angeles).

The theological revisions reflect debates over eucharistic theology, including language about the Real Presence, the Epiclesis, the Holy Communion, and language resonant with theologians such as N.T. Wright, Aidan Kavanagh, John Macquarrie, and J. I. Packer. The book’s eucharistic prayers and pastoral rites engaged controversies analogous to those in the Liturgical Movement and interlocuted with Roman Catholic reforms from the Second Vatican Council and Protestant liturgies from Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli traditions. The 1979 texts balance sacramental theology, pastoral praxis, and scriptural fidelity, grappling with polity questions familiar to the Episcopal Church (United States), the Anglican Communion, and ecumenical partners such as the Lutheran World Federation and the World Council of Churches.

Upon release, the 1979 prayer book elicited responses from diocesan bishops, parish clergy, lay leaders, and theological colleges including Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Virginia Theological Seminary, and Trinity School for Ministry, with receptions ranging from enthusiastic adoption in urban parishes influenced by Liberation Theology and Social Gospel advocates to conservative resistance echoing earlier disputes like those around the Nonjurors and the 1662 Prayer Book. Legal and canonical questions surfaced in cases involving dioceses such as South Carolina (Diocese of South Carolina) and disputes comparable in tone to ecclesiastical controversies in the Church of England and the Presbyterian Church (USA). The book has been used in ordinations, synods, and pastoral ministries from chaplaincies at institutions like Harvard University, Yale University, and Princeton University to parish life in cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.

The 1979 Book of Common Prayer influenced subsequent Anglican liturgies, ecumenical liturgical scholarship, and pastoral resources used by bodies including the Anglican Church of Canada, the Episcopal Church in Scotland, and the Anglican Church of Australia, and it informed hymnody alongside collections like the Hymnal 1982. Its legacy appears in ongoing debates at the Lambeth Conference, in theological education at seminaries such as General Theological Seminary and Virginia Theological Seminary, and in parish practices across dioceses including Massachusetts (Diocese of Massachusetts), Connecticut (Diocese of Connecticut), and California (Diocese of California), shaping Anglican identity alongside historical texts like the Book of Common Prayer (1662) and ecumenical liturgical projects such as the Revised Common Lectionary.