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Two leading scholars explore the story of the American Prayer Book's development through nine critical turning points.
The Book of Common Prayer has a central place in the faith and practice of Anglicans around the world and, within the United States, in The Episcopal Church. In their exciting and comprehensive new work, Nathan Jennings and Matthew S.C. Olver offer a fresh and original argument: the American prayer book tradition is not merely a historical artifact but a living body of binding precedent — similar to a constitutional tradition that actively governs liturgical interpretation and revision today. Drawing on the analogy of common law, Jennings and Olver identify nine decisive moments in prayer book history, from Thomas Cranmer's founding criteria for liturgical reform in 1549 to the contested marriage rites of the contemporary Episcopal Church, showing how each turning point set precedent that still bears upon decisions made in worship planning and General Convention alike.
Unlike conventional prayer book histories that narrate events chronologically, Turning Points in Prayer Book History argues that tradition is something earned through active engagement, not merely inherited. Clergy, ordinands, and lay leaders who have vowed to uphold the doctrine, discipline, and worship of The Episcopal Church will find here both the historical grounding and the theological framework to make those vows meaningful. Enriched by archival photographs of rare prayer books, discussion questions, and a liturgical glossary, this is an essential resource for seminary courses, book studies, and anyone navigating the current moment of prayer book revision.
“Turning Points in Prayer Book Historywill be a fitting addition to the libraries of those who are just beginning their liturgical studies as well as those concerned with revision and expansion of our common prayer. In this text, Jennings and Olver bring focused historical and theological framing and needed depth to the prayer book conversations currently engaging the Episcopal Church.”
"With clarity and originality, the authors give us a model of how to discuss liturgical development in the context of a deep theological literacy. Both in its content and in its method, this is a book of great importance—not only for Anglicans but for all who want to imagine and experience liturgy in such a context."
“A work on the Book of Common Prayer jointly written by two established liturgical scholars from different contexts and backgrounds already demands attention. Olver and Jennings' book differs from previous studies in a number of important respects besides its collaborative nature. Written with the classroom in mind, they have taken an explicitly theological approach to liturgical history, strikingly framing the development of the BCP (particularly in the USA) as providential. They also employ the analogy of legal precedent, allowing both for authority and for change. Their approach to the BCP through ‘turning points,’ rather than merely presenting the morass of information or even narrative, is a pedagogical master stroke. It may also help a Church struggling to understand its own liturgical past and present to focus on key issues as such and not just on competing disquiets or pet themes.”
"The Book of Common Prayer is a received tradition, a body of precedent set at decisive moments across five centuries, and every liturgical decision made today either honors or squanders that inheritance. Jennings and Olver trace the turning points with historical precision and theological courage, naming real tensions rather than smoothing them, and placing in the hands of clergy, seminarians, and liturgical leaders the resources to act with wisdom rather than improvisation alone. Turning Points is the book The Episcopal Church needs at the very moment it faces the question of what comes next and I would expect it to become a standard text for ordination preparation and liturgical committee work for at least a generation."
“In modern evolutionary theory, ‘stasis’ refers to long periods of little or no change, whereas the term ‘punctuated equilibrium’ draws attention to periods of rapid change. Liturgical rites have a similar history of development. In Turning Points, Nathan Jennings and Matthew Olver highlight the ‘punctuated equilibrium’ periods of the Book of Common Prayer as it has evolved and mutated in the use of the Episcopal Church of the United States. This book is an extremely useful study for seminarians and clergy, and the ample bibliography provides pointers to other families in the Anglican liturgical evolution.”