The Doctrine(s) contained within The Book of Common Prayer (1662)

(written as a discussion paper for the Prayer Book Society of England)

I suggest that as a minimum the following is explicitly taught, or is implicitly required by the analogy of Faith/Formularies:

• Commitment to keeping in heart and mind The Christian Year including the Lord’s Day, Advent, Lent and Festivals and also including such things as days of fasting and ember days.


• Commitment to Daily Prayer (Morning & Evening), to the use of the Litany twice a week or more & to the Order for Holy Communion on the Lord’s Day and Festivals.


• The Praying of the Psalter specifically as the Prayer Book of Jesus Christ and thus within His Body and in union with him.


• The reading daily of the Lectionary from OT & NT on the basis of One Canon with Two Testaments, where the Old is fulfilled in and by the New.


• The use only of the Collects and Eucharistic Lectionary for Holy Communion within H C as an expression of continuity through space and time.


• The belief that the normal way of prayer is to the Father through the Son and with the Holy Ghost.


• The dogma and doctrine concerning the Trinity, the Person of Christ and the Church, specifically stated in the Three Creeds, and as further expounded in the Articles of Religion (the latter being the first Formulary of the C of E).


• The doctrines contained in the Catechism concerning the Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed and the Sacraments, and as further expounded in the Services of Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Communion and in the Articles of Religion.


• The doctrine of Marriage clearly set forth in the Preface to the Marriage Service.


• The doctrine of sin as taught and implied in the Exhortations of Morning & Evening Prayer & the Order for Holy Communion and the Service of Holy Baptism.


• The doctrine of justification by faith as liturgically expressed in the Order for Holy Communion and stated with clarity in the Articles.


• The doctrine of the Ordained Ministry as presumed in the rubrics and as deduced from the Formulary known as the Ordinal. (Since the Service for the Consecrating of a person as a bishop clearly states and implies that this can only be a man, this doctrine is included.)


• The doctrine of the Church as the Established National Church which prays specifically for the Queen and Royal Family.

To leave out any of the above is to be committed to something less than “the Doctrine of the Prayer Book”. There are other points that can be made.

The Rev’d Dr Peter Toon March 13th 2004