The Oxford Guide to the Book of Common Prayer: A Worldwide Survey is a nonfiction reference work edited by Charles Hefling and Cynthia Shattuck which was published by Oxford University Press in 2006. The volume covered the development of the Book of Common Prayer as the dominant liturgical book of Anglicanism from the prayer book's origins in 16th-century England through to its global use and influence in the modern era, including coverage of the prayer book's influence on non-Anglican Christians. It was composed by 58 authors and was divided into more than 70 essays.
Contents
A collection of various editions of the Book of Common Prayer, derivatives, and associated liturgical texts
A reference work,[2]The Oxford Guide to the Book of Common Prayer was authored by 58 writers and was divided into over 70 essays, with each essay focussed on an aspect of the Book of Common Prayer and the "whole 'Prayer Book family'".[3][4][5] The "very substantial" book was printed with "narrow margins" and "eye-wateringly small print". The authorship generally favored Anglicans, particularly American Episcopalians;[4][6] the work came out of Oxford University Press's office in New York.[1]
Each of the seven parts of the book covers a different subject:[5]
The origin and history of the Book of Common Prayer in 16th- and 17th-century England
The prayer book in society and culture
The prayer book beyond England
The 20th-century prayer books
The present-day prayer books
Worship in the prayer books and possible future revisions
In a 2006 review for Publishers Weekly, Karl Tobien appraised The Oxford Guide to the Book of Common Prayer as "sure to become the definitive source of studies of the Book of Common Prayer". Reflecting on the concluding essays regarding the future of Christian worship, which Tobien felt were sometimes done "a tad whimsically", he mused of a future where "Sunday worshippers will read the liturgy from Palm Pilots [sic] or BlackBerry devices".[2] C. Brian Smith, for a 2006 review in Library Journal, found that the book's elements–including sidebars and illustrations–were enhancements. He further suggested that "librarians will have difficulty deciding whether to place this in the circulating or reference collections–or perhaps both".[7]
Church of England priest and Alcuin Club chairman Donald Gray, writing in 2007 for Church Times, felt that the Oxford guide did not displace Lowther Clarke's Liturgy and Worship. While appreciative of portions of some liturgical texts being included alongside the text, Gray referred readers to the works of Bernard Wigan and Colin Buchanan if they wished to study the specific texts of Anglican rites. Despite this, Gray found the Oxford guide to be "a valuable book" that demonstrated the diversity of Anglican prayer book worship. He noted that volume of American scholarship that made up the book reflected what he deemed a lack of liturgical expertise in the contemporary Church of England.[6]
Historian of Protestantism Alec Ryrie, in his 2010 review published in Reformation, said that the volume's subject might leave historians of the Reformation–particularly the English Reformation–disappointed and warned "the subtitle is serious" and that the scope of the text was the global, with coverage running into present events. However, he praised Judith Maltby's essay on the prayer book's "social use". Ryrie described this chapter as containing an "updated, engaging" restatement of an argument contained within Maltby's 1998 Prayer Book and People in Elizabethan and Early Stuart England, which contended that the prayer book "was woven into English Protestant life". Overall, Ryrie felt the book was a "exemplary, carefully-edited, beautifully-illustrated volume which will be of limited use to most readers of this journal" that made him suspect "that there is such a thing as 'Anglicanism' after all".[4]
Louis Weil, an American Episcopalian involved in the production of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, praised the volume as a "unprecedented survey" of the prayer book, particularly applauding James F. White's essay on the interplay between liturgy and church architecture. However, Weil criticized the lack of essays covering "living images of how exactly the rites were celebrated". He also noted a typographical error in Marion Hatchett's chapter, where the placement of Prayer of Humble Access within the 1789 American prayer book is inaccurately described.[3]
Frank Senn, a liturgist and pastor, wrote a review in Anglican Theological Review that found that the book's 58 authors included "a veritable who's who among Anglican liturgical scholars, as well as scholars in other traditions". The chapters, according to Senn, were more stylistically similar than those found in encyclopedic articles. While he considered Stevenson's chapter on pre-Reformation English worship "a needed background", Senn said that the coverage of liturgical book evolution should have extended back to Augustine of Canterbury.[5]
Some portions of the book drew particular praise. Gordon Maitland, the national chairman of the Prayer Book Society of Canada, affirmed John Baldovin's essay on the 20th-century Liturgical Movement as "a useful summary".[8] In their reviews, Tobien and Smith were appreciative of essays providing coverage of Asian and African prayer books.[2] Senn found that the work by Maltby and Jeremy Gregory provided "a picture of participation in Prayer Book worship in Anglican parishes" spanning the 16th to the 19th century similar to Eamon Duffy's The Stripping of the Altars; alongside William L. Sach's coverage of British colonial prayer book worship, Senn felt these essays were "nearly worth the price of the book".[5]
