Why the Prayer Book?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Roy Strong's\u00a0A Little History of the English Country Church\u00a0is a gem. \u00a0It is a delightful history of Anglicanism using the story of what happened in the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/northamptonseminar\/2015\/10\/09\/why-the-prayer-book\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why the Prayer Book?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Roy Strong's\u00a0A Little History of the English Country Church\u00a0is a gem. \u00a0It is a delightful history of Anglicanism using the story of what happened in the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/northamptonseminar\/2015\/10\/09\/why-the-prayer-book\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Northampton Seminar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-09T11:28:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gerald McDermott\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gerald McDermott\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/northamptonseminar\/2015\/10\/09\/why-the-prayer-book\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/northamptonseminar\/2015\/10\/09\/why-the-prayer-book\/\",\"name\":\"Why the Prayer Book?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/northamptonseminar\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-09T11:28:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-09T11:28:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/northamptonseminar\/#\/schema\/person\/4d790ed5dce84a7c25492742cfd27eea\"},\"description\":\"Roy Strong's\u00a0A Little History of the English Country Church\u00a0is a gem. \u00a0It is a delightful history of Anglicanism using the story of what happened in the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/northamptonseminar\/2015\/10\/09\/why-the-prayer-book\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/northamptonseminar\/2015\/10\/09\/why-the-prayer-book\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/northamptonseminar\/2015\/10\/09\/why-the-prayer-book\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/northamptonseminar\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why the Prayer Book?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/northamptonseminar\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/northamptonseminar\/\",\"name\":\"The Northampton Seminar\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/northamptonseminar\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/northamptonseminar\/#\/schema\/person\/4d790ed5dce84a7c25492742cfd27eea\",\"name\":\"Gerald McDermott\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/northamptonseminar\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a7436975a9b9ccfe46d43fddc4557584?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a7436975a9b9ccfe46d43fddc4557584?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gerald McDermott\"},\"description\":\"Gerald R. 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{"id":5295,"date":"2015-10-09T07:28:46","date_gmt":"2015-10-09T11:28:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/northamptonseminar\/?p=5295"},"modified":"2015-10-09T07:28:46","modified_gmt":"2015-10-09T11:28:46","slug":"why-the-prayer-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/northamptonseminar\/2015\/10\/09\/why-the-prayer-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Prayer Book?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Roy Strong\u2019s\u00a0A Little History of the English Country Church<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>is a gem. \u00a0It is a delightful history of Anglicanism using the story of what happened in the parish, with many beautiful pictures, from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century.<\/p>\n

There are many surprises and Aha! moments, such as . . .<\/p>\n

1. The purpose of Cranmer\u2019s original Prayer Books (1549 and 1552) was to inspire people to join in worship rather than simply watch the priest at the front, as had been the case before the Reformation when \u201cthe congregation would be at their separate prayers and beads\u201d (102).<\/p>\n

2. \u201cBefore the Reformation, many within the village community had been involved in the church, raising money and taking part in various ceremonies. \u00a0Processions, lighting candles before the Rood and the images, and prayers for the dead had drawn the community together. \u00a0But all of that had disappeared [by the mid-sixteenth century]. \u00a0Now it was the churchwardens who were responsible for poor relief, the repair of the roads and bridges and, of course, the church fabric\u201d (98).<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0Most folks in the Elizabethan country congregations were illiterate. \u00a0This was why the Anglican service had so many Scripture readings, arranged so that most of the Bible would be \u201cread over in the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. In the 1570s the Prayer Book \u201cwas often bound up with the Bible, physical evidence of their being seen as a unity\u201d (102).<\/p>\n

5. \u00a0Weekly communion by most never became a commonplace until the twentieth century, despite Cranmer\u2019s intention. \u00a0The reason? \u00a0One was the expense of the beard and wine!<\/p>\n

6. Some of \u201cthe reformers replaced the drama of the Mass, culminating in the elevation of the Host, with something that lacked colorful ceremonial and attempted instead an archaeological reconstruction of the Last Supper. \u00a0A highly cerebral religion of the Word was suddenly imposed on congregations where most could not read\u201d (75).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"