Drew Nathaniel Keane is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Writing and Linguistics at Georgia Southern University and a PhD candidate in the School of English at the University of St. Andrews, writing a thesis (tentatively) titled The Use of the Prayer Book: The Book of Common Prayer (1549-1604) as Technical Writing for an Oral-Aural Culture. With Samuel L. Bray, he edited the 1662 Book of Common Prayer: International Edition (IVP Academic, March 2021). From 2012 to 2018 he served on the Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music. More of his work is available at drewkeane.com.
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.” I John 4: 7. As light dissolves the shadow’s sway So love drives out all fear. The night retreats before the day, As love turns hate to cheer. The army of advancing love Fools night without deceit No raptor strikes; instead a dove…
The earliest commentaries on the Book of Common Prayer were prepared at Archbishop Cranmer’s request by Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr Vermigli. In 1551 both divines wrote a Censura (that of Vermigli, unfortunately, is no longer extant) assessing the liturgies of the Prayer Book for the consistency with which they apply the Church’s teaching to…
A young philosopher went every day To watch a seamstress toil at her machine, Where she’d sit alt’ring clothes, a fine array, For those too over-grown or those too lean. Until, at last, because of all he’d seen, As if awoke from prayer, he raised his head, And grabb’d her Singer in a fit of…
“Dearly beloved” is one of the most well-known phrases from the Prayer Book. Virtually anyone who hears it (regardless of religious affiliation), thinks of weddings. But this form of address is not unique to the marriage liturgy: the phrase (or variations of it) is found all over the Prayer Book. It is the principal formula…
Presiding from the North Side of the Table The 1662 Prayer Book prescribes that the priest preside from the north side of the table. Though it was the universal Anglican practice from the Restoration until the mid-nineteenth century, north side presidency is little known among Anglicans today.[1] Considering its general obscurity, I will explore the…
Find part 1 here. Facing East Praying ad orientem, facing the east, is a wide-spread, ancient, pre-Christian custom: because the east is the direction of the rising sun, it naturally inspires and expresses hope for the future.[1] For ancient Christians, orientation (in the original sense, “towards the Orient”) also expressed expectation for the second advent…
When, in John’s Gospel, Jesus meets with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, she comments on the disagreement between Samaritans and Jews regarding where God had appointed sacrifices to be offered — Mount Gerizim or Zion. Jesus replies, Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain,…
At the conclusion of the 1662 baptismal liturgy, the minister charges the godparents: Ye are to take care that this Child be brought to the Bishop to be confirmed by him, so soon as he can say the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, in the vulgar tongue, and be further instructed in…
A moment in the Communion service has fired my imagination for the past three years. Then shall the Priest say to them that come to receive the holy Communion, Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbours, and intend to lead a new…
In sixteenth-century England, unlike in much of Europe, circumstances allowed for reformation through the ecclesiastical hierarchy, rather than in (total) defiance of it. This has created a unique, sometimes confusing, but, as I hope to show, beneficial position for the Church of England. The Church of England both maintained her historic structure and embraced the…
