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Hallo again to all.
In its 304 years, this Book of Common Prayer seems to have belonged to at least half a dozen people. We imagine that in the beginning it was used as an actual prayer book; and that gradually over time it became a reference work, and then something to be displayed and not used. We prize this edition for its unbelievably high quality etchings, and take it out of its bookshelf a few times a year to admire it and to explore its time-travel properties, taking us back to the world of Theodosia or Ann or Michael or Laura or even Frank. We've always assumed that Uncle Gordon bought it at a bookshop in London and took it home to America to give to Frank as a Christmas present. A while ago we went on an anamnetic daydream with this copy of the prayer book, but were immediately sidetracked by noticing
for the first time that it actually begins not with the Preface or with the statement on For centuries, churches were players in power struggles. Before the concept of an Anglican Communion existed, the faithful took for granted that church was what the authorities wanted it to be. Indeed, anything else was a crime. And the prayer book began with the full text of the Acts of Parliament that made it a crime and set out the punishment. That level of authoritarian control over religious matters is hard to find these days in most of the provinces of the Anglican world. It certainly doesn't exist in the United States, whose Episcopal Church was given an ultimatum last month by a group of leaders of churches in other countries. In exploring church power struggles, we can't help but think about the statement recently issued by the Church of Nigeria explaining its fierce stance on homosexuality, which includes the sentence 'In Nigerian traditional culture homosexuality is seen as taboo.' Seeing these Acts of Uniformity bound into a prayer book reminded us of that sentence: in North American traditional culture, exerting authority without having authority is seen as taboo. North American culture was shaped at the frontier, where North Americans learned the difference between consensus and mob rule. AO columnist Bishop Pierre Whalon has filed a detailed 'Estimate of the Situation' offering his observations on the state of the combat between Nigeria and North America*. It's all starting to get interesting. See you next week. |
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