Confessional Anglican Prayerbook Proposal

We rejoice in our Anglican sacramental and liturgical heritage as an expression of the gospel, and we uphold the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as a true and authoritative standard of worship and prayer, to be translated and locally adapted for each culture.

-Jerusalem Declaration 6

Are Anglican’s confessional? This is the debate currently raging between the Global and Canterbury Anglican Communions. The Global Anglican Communion posits that the Anglican Communion is a confessional church. This means that there are a certain set of documents that define the belief and practice of the church. In the Lutheran world this is defined by the Book of Concord and summed in the Augsburg Confession and Luther’s Catechisms. For the Reformed the Three Forms of Unity and Westminster Standards define their confession. For those who call themselves “confessional” Anglicans the 39 Articles, Ordinal, Books of Homilies, and 1662 Book of Common Prayer encapsulates the confessions of the Anglican Church.

There is something different about these so-called “confessions”. Unlike the Lutheran and Reformed traditions these documents are not positive affirmations of beliefs (besides the 39 Articles). The Book of Homilies are pastoral guidance on how to apply beliefs. The 1662 Prayerbook is how these beliefs are made practical. The Ordinal is the application of Apostolic Succession in the real world. What then are the 39 Articles? The 39 Articles point us towards a greater tradition of which it makes an authority above itself. What are these authorities? Scripture & Tradition. The tradition is explicitly defined by the 39 Articles itself.

Article 6 defines how scripture has provided all necessary information and practice necessary for salvation. Article 20 defines how the church has authority to guard this deposit through canons and worship. Article 21 defines the ultimate authority (under scripture) to be the Ecumenical Councils. In doing this the 39 Articles subordinates itself to the Catholic faith of the first 1000 years of the church, defined by the Seven Ecumenical Councils and particularly the first Four Councils as dogmatic definitions of the Trinity and the God-Man. This is affirmed by the Jerusalem Declaration:

We uphold the four Ecumenical Councils and the three historic Creeds as expressing the rule of faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

-Jerusalem Declaration 3

The Global Anglican Communion then defines “confessionalism” differently than the other Confessional reformation bodies. The other confessional bodies are locked into definitions given at a particular place in a particular time. That time for the Reformed is between 1563-1647 AD (Heidelberg Catechism – Westminster Confession). For the Lutheran Church that time was between 1529-1577 (Small Catechism – Formula of Concord).

In contrast the Anglican Confessional history begins in 1537 and ends in 1662. It could be argued that this confession writing continues through the Lambeth conferences and now these confessions are continuing with the Jerusalem Declaration and the following Global Anglican Conferences. The Anglican church does not look to these documents then as their sole authority for doctrine. The Anglican church does not define her doctrine by a certain period of time. It does not look to a specific creed from the past or the present to define doctrine. Rather the catholic faith and liturgy stand as primary means whereby doctrine is taught and proclaimed. The 1662 Book of Common Prayer has been accepted as the standard liturgy for teaching these doctrines in the Global Communion. The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) along with the Reformed Episcopal Church in North America hold to the Fundamental Declarations of the Province which says,

We receive The Book of Common Prayer as set forth by the Church of England in 1662, together with the Ordinal attached to the same, as a standard for Anglican doctrine and discipline, and, with the Books which preceded it, as the standard for the Anglican tradition of worship.

-Fundamental Declaration 6

What is the 1662 Book of Common Prayer? Just a quick look at Justus.Anglican.org will show you that there are hundreds of variations of this prayerbook. It is generally accepted that the 1662 Book of Common Prayer is that text authorized by the Church of England. There is a fundamental problem with this. The Anglican church believes that true doctrines must be applied practically in prayer. The 1662 Book of Common Prayer is designed for the specific context of England. It must then have an international edition for use in English speaking countries that takes into account local needs. This was somewhat attempted with the IVP International Edition of the 1662 BCP. The issue is that the changes made to this edition are not just contextual changes rather they are substantive changes to doctrine especially in the ordinal that suggest that women may be ordained to certain offices of the church that the Catholic faith does not allow. There is then a need for a confessional 1662 International Edition for use in the Global Anglican churches.

I am attempting to put together this text and to find a publisher that will print a pew addition (in the size and style of that of the Reformed Trinity Hymnal or WELS Christian Worship). The rules I will be using for the editing of the text are the following.

1. I will use the text found at https://www.eskimo.com/~lhowell/bcp1662/index.html
2. The main liturgical text will not be changed except for additions of prayers such as state prayers.
3. Any additions such as headings and subheadings will be added to the text for ease of congregational use.
4. The addition of an optional Epiclesis into the text is being considered as being the accepted ecumenical consensus and needed for use in the American context and acceptable with the doctrine of the 1662.
5. Any supplemental Rubrics or additions not in the original text will be in an appendix
6. After the text has been finalized and all feedback received there will be no more changes to the text, ever.

These six guiding principles will guard the text from being edited for theological reasons.

My goal is to work with a team of laymen and priests to put together a text that may be referenced for doctrine and used by the laymen for home devotion and public liturgy. I will post updates to this post as I continue in this work.

Updates

1. 3/25/26. Initial text manuscript is being compiled. Announcement post made. Reaching out to people to help contribute.