Alternative Services
Prior to 1960, virtually every
Anglican Church in the world would be conducting their services with the
historic Book of Common Prayer. Today, one would be unlikely to even find the
historic Book of Common Prayer in an Anglican
Church in
There are so many different
possibilities of texts and rites for use in the services of worship that, as
parishes exercise the options, they no longer appear to be connected to each
other as members of the national church.
Exuberance for difference as an end in itself, and appetite for multiple
forms as an end in themselves, can lead in some cases
to a kind of
The new books were written in a new kind of language, called “contemporary English.” They were based on theories of “dynamic equivalence” and the comprehension level of the daily newspaper. They introduced the “You-God.” In addition the new services were to deliver an updated theology, less concerned with sin and redemption and more focused on celebration and social activism. These changes were designed to make the services of the Church more ‘user friendly,” more relevant to modern life, and more accessible to modern people. The men and women involved in this process of ‘liturgical renewal,” were motivated by a sense of real purpose. They believed that they were the new reformers, bringing regeneration, renewal, relevance, and intelligibility to the Church. They were encouraged and emboldened by the work in the Second Vatican Council which met in the mid 1960s.
Due in large part to Gregory Dix and his influential book The Shape of the Liturgy (1945) the liturgists focused attention on Eucharistic action rather than on the theological words that give meaning to action. The new books did not receive immediate unanimous approval as indicated by the number of experimental and trial services and the lack of agreement in the essays and articles published on modern liturgies. Before a new contemporary idiom for Bible translation and liturgy creation could be developed, a new constituency for revision, the feminists, began demanding that “contemporary language” must also be “inclusive language.” Particularly after women were ordained, it became necessary to remove the masculine gender, in reference to God.
The changes in Anglican Liturgy and Public Worship took place in three phases. First, there was the call for renewal, involving the creation of new forms of services (a new “Shape”) and a change from the “Thou-God” to the “You-God.” Second, there was the call for “contemporary” language and an emotional and fervent call for relevancy to accompany the new structure and content. Third, the new “contemporary” language was judged sexist and it became acceptable in some quarters to speak of God as “She” and “Mother”. All these events and changes took place very quickly and with the revolutionary enthusiasm of the 1960s. Serious errors were made in terms of shape, style, doctrine, idiom and content that will require an extensive examination to recognize and reconcile. Before we look at the individual books, remember, all of the experimental texts and rites were placed in the books with the approval of the provincial synods of each national church.
1978. An Australian Prayer Book for use together with The Book of Common Prayer, 1662. This book was intended as a supplement to the historic Book of Common Prayer (1662) and not a replacement for the standards of doctrine and worship. What was different was a number of rites for Morning and Evening Prayer, two Orders for Holy Communion, Holy Baptism, Confirmation and Marriage, and all in “contemporary” language along with the Ordinal and Psalter. In 1995, this book was published together with The Book of Common Prayer (1662) with specific recognition of the changing demands concerning inclusive language. The Preface declared that, “Since 1977, the use of male pronouns as generic terms has become unacceptable as a matter of courtesy and justice.
1980. The Alternative Service Book (ASB) provided services authorized for use in the Church of England in conjunction with The Book of Common Prayer (1662), together with the Liturgical Psalter. The Preface recognizes a need for new understandings of worship in new forms and styles. This Alternative Service Book (1980) was replaced with Common Worship in 2000. Neither of these books were meant to replace The Book of Common Prayer (1662) which remains the official standard of doctrine and worship for the Church of England.
1985. The Book of Alternative Services (BAS) of the Anglican Church of Canada was also a declared alternative and not a replacement for The Book of Common Prayer (1962) which was a traditional revision of The Book of Common Prayer (1662). Like the 1980 English book, it provides six Eucharistic prayers and follows the new shape of the modern liturgists in the “modern, vernacular English.” Without intending to replace the traditional BCP, this book contains rites for all the services in a parish, from baptisms to funerals as well as new services for the ordination of bishops, priests, and deacons.
1989. A
These liturgical innovations re-invented the Prayer Book with inclusive, contemporary language in a shape to emphasize “celebration” as opposed to the perceived sobriety of the traditional services. Where the new books have been used alone, there has been a growing loss of a common identity among Anglicans due to the multiplicity of services available and in use. The loss of a shared identity is a basic causative factor in the doctrinal and moral turmoil within the Anglican or Episcopal provinces in the West. Maintaining multiple service forms for Common Prayer is like trying to operate a nation under multiple constitutions at the same time.
The General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 1976 and in 1979 approved the replacement of The Book of Common Prayer (1928) with The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, Together with the Psalter or Psalms of David (1979). This book can be considered a well-designed source book for worship, in which there are useful provisions for the right worship and service of Almighty God. However is the title given the book the correct one? This title could be considered correct if the only criterion is whether the services are in use in the Episcopal Church. However, if one requires conformity to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the historic Book of Common Prayer, the answer is obviously a resounding NO.
The contents of the 1979 Prayer Book parallel the Books of Alternative Services and the Alternative Service Books that did not replace the traditional BCP. However, if The Book of Common Prayer (1928) were retained as the standard of doctrine, and worship, the differences would become too apparent. The commitment to traditional morality and an unchanging moral order under God shifted towards moral relativism and a belief in unlimited human moral choice and freedom.
The 1789 BCP was an American
adaptation of the 1662 BCP for use in the new
For more details, read “Neither Orthodoxy Nor A Formulary” by The Rev. Dr. Peter Toon, M.A., D.Phil.
and The Rev. Louis Tarsitano
(Preservation Press
of the Prayer Book Society of the