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Letters from 26 October to 1 November 2009

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Ye Olde Book of Common Prayer

I found last week's article on the BCP most interesting indeed. Especially as I recently bought me another copy of Ye Olde Book of Common Prayer and was sore astonished as I did so, for it is no longer much in use in my church.

When I was a lad, I read the BCP through several times (not, I hasten to add from any keen interest in its contents, but more as a way to mitigate the boredom aroused by the long services that we had to sit through then). I think that the enduring legacy of the BCP and the King James Bible lies in the fact that they gave Christianity according to Anglicanism a majestic and reverential flavour which I think will be lost in redaction into modern English (or Igbo for that matter). The sonorous sound of 'Our Father, which art in heaven' is lost in 'Our Father in heaven', and so forth.

But in the end, I agree with you . . . modernization has to take place here, ere we put off people with the notion that all that is just old-fashioned stuff. But like you, I shall regret the passing of the BCP of yore, when it is gone.

Obi Udeariry
St. Andrew's, Aladinma
Owerri, Imo State, NIGERIA
netwalker55@yahoo.es

Bring it on!

I enjoyed reading your article about how the 1662 Book of Common Prayer became the authorized book for use in the British Empire and how it was translated into indigenous languages. Instead of trying to get everyone in the whole Communion to agree on the wording of the Anglican Covenant, would it not be better to adopt the 1662 BCP as a unifying covenant?

The BCP 1662 should be the authoritative guide on what Anglicans believe worldwide. The Church Catechism and the Articles of Religion describe what we believe.
I feel the BCP 1662 Holy Communion service should be available and be celebrated regularly as a sign of unity throughout the churches of the whole Communion.

I was raised on the BCP 1662 and the 1962 Canadian Book and I am not very happy how our church has digressed in its adoption of the Book of Alternative Services at the expense of the BCP, which seems is the very foundation of our Christian faith.

Peter Iveson
St Mary Magdalen and St James Cathedral
Toronto, CANADA
iveson1@hotmail.com
1 November 2009

Earlier letters

We launched our 'Letters to AO' section on 11 May 2003. All published letters are in our archives.