Thomas Cranmer

born July 2, 1489 in Lincolnshire
died (executed by burning) March 21, 1556 in Oxford

Ordained priest 1523
Archbishop of Canterbury, 1533-1556 under Henry VIII
Compiler of First Book of Common Prayer 1549 under Edward VI

Thomas Cranmer was the first Archbishop of Canterbury to lead the Church after its separation from Rome and the inauguration of the English Reformation.

In 1544 he completed the first vernacular service for the newly independent Church of England, The Exhortation and Litany. He proceeded from that point to develop the first Book of Common Prayer, which was authorized and published in 1549.

During Henry VIII's reign, Cranmer's reforms were mild, given Henry VIII's theological conservatism and dislike of Lutheranism. During the reign of Edward VI, Cranmer made more sweeping changes, publishing the first Book of Common Prayer. Upon Edward's death in 1553, however, Cranmer was in jeopardy as the succession to the throne was unsettled and he had been excommunicated by the Roman Church. Cranmer supported the abortive ascension of Lady Jane Grey, but she was proclaimed queen for only 9 days before the Privy Council switched loyalty and backed Mary I. After Mary I, an ardent Roman Catholic, ascended to the throne in 1553, Cranmer was arrested and executed by burning. Before his execution, he was pressured into signing a recantation. He later recanted the recantation, and when he was burned at the stake, allegedly first held into the flames the hand that had signed the recantation.

Cranmer's library at Croydon Palace held numerous text that he used in formulating the first Book of Common Prayer, but it was sold off piecemeal at his death, so we will never know exactly what it contained.

For more information, see:
The BBC biographical entry of Thomas Cranmer
My Episcopal Cafe's Speaking to the Soul meditation on Cranmer, March 21, 2015

Elizabethan Settlement

In 1559, the official policy of Elizabeth I in matters of religion was determined to be a middle way between Catholicism and Calvinism. There are two main parts of the Elizabethan Settlement: the 1559 Act of Supremacy and the 1559 Prayer Book.

For more information, see:
The Elizabethan Settlement in the glossary at The Episcopal Church's website

Book of Common Prayer

The general term for a series of collections of prayers and liturgies used by numerous churches within the Anglican Communion. The first Book of Common Prayer was created in 1549 by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer.

Evolution in England:
1549
1552
1559
1604
1662- This book is still officially in use in England and Africa.
(1928: failed to win approval)

Evolution in Scotland:
1662 English Book of Common Prayer
1674 Scottish Liturgy

Evolution in America:
1662 English Book of Common Prayer plus Holy Communion rite from the 1674 Scottish Liturgy led to
1790 Book of Common Prayer
1892
1928
1979

Evolution in New Zealand
1662 English Book of Common Prayer
1988 A New Zealand Prayer Book, He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa

Evolution in Canada:
English 1662
1922
1962
1967 (French translation- Le Recueil des Prières de la Communauté Chrétienne)


For more information, see:
Online 1979 Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church
"Evolution of the Prayer Book" in Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 volumes, from bartleby.com
A New History of the Book of Common Prayer at justus.org
Numerous resources related to the Book of Common Prayer from Anglicans Online

Black Rubric

Inserted into the 1552 Book of Common Prayer at the insistence of Calvinists, which noted that the direction to kneel at communion was not meant to imply transubstantiation or adoration of the elements. Rubrics were normally printed in red ink; this rubric had not been approved by Parliament and was inserted as the book was going to press.

For more information, see:
"The Black Rubric" at Anglican Eucharistic Theology

Lollardy

Lollards were a heretical reform movement that arose in England in the 14th century that lingered until the English Reformation. Lollards were followers of John Wycliffe. The main tenets included:

Christianity should be based on the Bible as much as possible, therefore practices not found in scripture should be eliminated;
The laity should have access to the Bible in the vernacular;
Authority for interpretations rests in individuals, not with the Church;
A denial of the doctrine of transubstantiation;
A belief in predestination rather than justification by works, and that there was an invisible "Church of the Saved" which differed from the visible Catholic Church;
A belief in a lay priesthood and a denial of the efficacy of confession or clerical celibacy

1534 Act of Supremacy

A law passed in 1534 with the support of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell that acknowledged the principle of Royal Supremacy, making Henry VIII the supreme head of the Church of England and granting him the authority to nominate all bishops and control all Church property within the boundaries of the Church of England. In effect, this declared the Ecclesia Anglicana, or English Church, to be a national church separate from the primacy of Rome. This Act is commonly dated as the beginning of the English Reformation.

Breviary

A book that contained the daily office; its convenience made it popular for person devotion and use.

Daily Office

In the west, the liturgical hours were called offices. Archbishop Cranmer, in creating the prayer book, reduced these for the laity down to two: Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, or Evensong. Together, these make up the Daily Office that is prayed by millions of Anglicans around the world.

"One of the beneficial effects of the Reformation in England was a deliberate effort to simplify the Daily Office so that both clergy and laity could participate in its offering. Morning Prayer was based upon the Medieval office of Matins together with elements from Prime. Evening Prayer was, in its essence, a combination of Vespers and Compline. But the Office as a whole was revised around the importance of regular recitation of the Psalter, reading of the whole of Scripture, and set prayer. This gives the Anglican Office its distinctive character. In more recent times, Sext (Noonday Prayer) and Compline have been restored for optional use in various Anglican Prayer Books, such as the American Book of 1979."-- from the Anglican Service Book (link below)


For more information, see also:
"The Rise and Fall of the Daily Office," a critique on Christianity Today
from the Anglican Service Book at justus.org

Ten Articles

Compiled by Archbishop Cranmer at the insistence of King Henry VIII, and approved by convocation in 1536, this was a list of 10 statements regarding doctrines and ceremonies of the newly independent Church of England.

The Institution of a Christian Man, otherwise known as “the Bishop’s Book,” expanded upon these articles.

Articles related to doctrines: 

1. That Holy Scriptures and the three Creeds are the basis and summary of a true Christian faith.
2. That baptism conveys remission of sins and the regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit, and is absolutely necessary as well for children as adults.
3. That penance consists of contrition, confession, and reformation, and is necessary to salvation.
4. That the body and blood of Christ are really present in the elements of the eucharist.
5. That justification is remission of sin and reconciliation to God by the merits of Christ; but good works are necessary.

Articles related to ceremonies:

1. That images are useful as remembrancers, but are not objects of worship.
2. That saints are to be honored as examples of life, and as furthering our prayers.
3. That saints may be invoked as intercessors, and their holydays observed.
4. That ceremonies are to be observed for the sake of their mystical signification, and as conducive to devotion.
5. That prayers for the dead are good and useful, but the efficacy of papal pardon, and of soul-masses offered at certain localities, is negatived.

For more information, see:
The Ten Articles, from the Luminarium Project

John Wesley

Portrait by George Romney

Anglican priest, pietist, founder of Methodism

born June 17, 1703 in Lincolnshire
died March 2, 1791 in London

Educated at Oxford, he joined a group founded by his brother Charles known as the "Holy Club."

"...Wesley, though his own preaching was mild and quiet in comparison to the scenery-chewing Whitfield, believed in the need for powerful emotional experiences, particular  moments in life when God gave the grace to live perfectly-- which in Wesley's vocabulary meant without conscious, intentional sin-- and exhorted his listeners to seek them out and treasure them."-- Alan Jacobs, The Book of Common Prayer: A Biography, pp.110-111.

For more information see:
Biography from Christianity Today

Works:
Various sermons of John Wesley from UMC Missions
Thoughts on Slavery at UNC Chapel Hill

George Whitefield

born December 16, 1714 in Gloucester
died September 29, 1770 in Newburyport, Massachusetts

A Calvinist by persuasion, English-born Anglican priest who was the most famous preacher of the 1st Great Awakening in America. He was an itinerant preacher and skilled orator, known for preaching outdoors to crowds of thousands (since no church could hold the crowds and no preacher wanted to lend his pulpit to such a celebrity. His sermons would last for two hours, and were marked by weeping, foot-stomping, and other sorts of "histrionics" in the words of his critics.

At Oxford, he became a member of the "Holy Club," which also included John and Charles Wesley. John lent him a book, The Life of God in the Soul of Man, which led to an intense religious conversion. He is considered, to have contributed to the founding of Methodism along with the Wesleys. In America, through his work in the 1st Great Awakening, he also had influence upon Presbyterians, Baptists, and Congregationalists.


For more information, see:
Biography from Christianity Today
Biography from CCEL

Works:
Selected Sermons of George Whitefield

Sir Christopher Wren

This portrait depicts St. Paul's in the background

mathematician, astronomer, architect

born October 20, 1632 in Wiltshire
died February 25, 1723

One of the founders of the Royal Society
Designed St. Paul's Cathedral
Designed the Royal Observatory at Greenwich in 1675

For more information, see:
The BBC biography of Christopher Wren
Biography from the Royal Museums, Greenwich

Litany

A prayer that is made up of a series of petitions to God, in which a minister intones each petition, and the people respond.

Great Bible

An English version of the Bible, authorized by Thomas Cromwell in the name of Henry VIII, published in 1538 and translated by Miles Coverdale, whose version of the psalms are still used in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer.

Pietism

a broad religious revivalist movement that originated among Lutheranism in the late 17th century, which sought increase personal holiness, or piety. In Anglicanism, Methodism could be seen as a pietist movement.

auditory churches

From www.bishopstreetchurch.org.uk

A church design popular after the Great London Fire of 1666 necessitated the rebuilding of many parishes. Most famously designed by Christopher Wren, who measured how far the voice could be heard and designed their dimensions accordingly. They were often either square or round, without a chancel. The altar was placed upon the East wall with an altar rail surrounding it. The focal point was the pulpit. A baptismal font was placed at the west end. Over 50 parishes were built by Wren according to this design.

They were "open, airy, well-lit spaces, often circular in shape, where services can easily be heard, and likewise seen in one's own prayer book. They are something like the opposite of Gothic churches, those darkened divided chambers designed to enfold the holy mysteries of the Mass. The auditory churches fit a religion almost wholly of the book: they are made not for Holy Communion but for Morning Prayer and Evensong.... They were meant for congregational participation as well: clearly audible in them are not just the minister's prayers but the people's responses."--Alan Jacobs, The Book of Common Prayer: A Biography, pp. 107-8



For more information, see:
The Church of England 1688-1832: Unity and Concord
The Oxford Guide to the Book of Common Prayer: A Worldwide Survey
A Brief History of the Episcopal Church on google books
A History of the English Parish: The Culture of Religion from Augustine to Victoria
Beauty of Holiness: Anglicanism and Architecture in Colonial South Carolina

Latitudinarian

In the 17th century, a churchman who supported the episcopal governance and worship of the Church of England, but who denied that these forms were ordained by or derived their authority from God.

Originally applied to the Cambridge Platonists, they believed that reason should be used to establish church doctrine over reliance upon tradition alone, which caused the conservative party to view them as unorthodox.

They accepted tradition, but allowed for latitude on other teachings based on reason, hence the name.

Similar to the Broad Church movement of the 19th century.