The Book of Common Prayer, part 8: Liturgy and society | Alan Wilson
The BCP is defined far more by liturgical statements than dogmatic formularies, offering a distinctive concept of uniformityThe whole notion of producing a Book of Common Prayer says something significant about the kind of church Thomas Cranmer and his...
The Book of Common Prayer, part 6: Fencing the table | Alan Wilson
The BCP has traditionally encouraged people to partake in holy communion, but left it to the individual's conscience to decideHoly communion is probably the second most used liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer, often at 8.00am, but also occasionally l...
The Book of Common Prayer, part 5: The importance of evensong | Alan Wilson
Evensong provides a peg on which to hang deeply personal reflections, most of them nothing to do with Christian doctrine"What are days for?" This question, according to Philip Larkin, brings the priest and the doctor, in their long coats, running over ...
The Book of Common Prayer, part 4: In the midst of life
The robust and unsentimental realism of the BCP funeral service is better than modern sanitised sentimentalityT. S. Eliot notices "Webster was much possessed by death, and saw the skull beneath the skin." Webster, born in the 1580's, did not have to lo...
The Book of Common Prayer, part 3 | Alan Wilson
With the Book of Common Prayer, marriage takes its place at the heart of domestic and civil societyThe solemnisation of matrimony, best loved and known of the Book of Common Prayer's occasional offices, looks backward and forward. The rite recapitulate...
Australian poet, Les Murray | Alan Wilson
It's a close call: Milton would provide food for thought, but Murray instinctively recognises the glory of God in the natural world
The question: Who's your favourite religious poet?
OK. I've got the Bible and Shakespeare on my desert island, so that's the poetry...
New light on Christianity’s Jewish roots | Alan Wilson