Albion
Facilitator
Very interesting discussion!
I've heard many say that the changes made in the 1979 BCP was the Episcopal Church's Vatican II, so to speak. The idea at the time was that the liturgies needed to be updated to reflect modern language. Like Vatican II for Catholics, the idea was that the church needed to be updated and the liturgies needed to be updated to reflect modern society. Many in TEC, at the time, thought that we needed to move in a Vatican II direction and adopt liturgies that were similar to what the RCC was doing. Through doing this, I imagine that they thought TEC and the RCC would be closer to achieving some sort of unity. This was very important to many TECers at the time and still is important in some TEC circles. This was certainly not the only motivation regarding the changes made in the '79 BCP, but I would say that it is a big one.
Good point. And now the Roman Church is in the process of stepping back from some of that excess while TEC is thinking of moving further into it.
I think you're mistaken about that. While the point may have been correct in the 1920s, by the 1970s the Evangelical Episcopalians were the strongest opponents of ditching the historic book. The Anglo-Catholics were the strongest against the ordination of women, and both issues hit the boiling point at about the same time.just how much controversy the '28 BCP seemed to cause at the time, especially for those who leaned in a Reformed direction. Many Reformed Anglicans saw the '28 BCP as a step in an Anglo-Catholic direction and felt that the doctrine of sin had been diluted.
Here is an awesome website that notes the changes made in the '28 BCP:
What’s Wrong with the 1928 Book of Common Prayer? | The Heritage Anglican Network
And yet another article detailing the changes made in the '28 BCP and the Anglo-Catholic/Broad Church direction it took:
Anglicans Ablaze: Liturgy, Doctrine, and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer
Upvote
0