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.
The bite. That one bite. That defiant crunch —“Oh God!” She begg’d as knowledge ravish’d her.That old cliché that ignorance is blissWas in this act conceiv’d, but none can know —Not really — know how knowledge felt at firstTo pure primeval innocence of mind. She knew the tree bore knowledge by its name.She knew its…
During the Reformation the Church of England, along with a minority of other Protestant churches[1] maintained its pre-Reformation episcopalian polity, with its three orders of deacon, presbyter, and bishop. In this two-part essay, I explore the Anglican orders of ministry. In this first part, I begin by discussing episcopalian polity generally; in the subsequent piece…
Perhaps the strangest element of the strange story of the ornaments rubric is that the interpretation of this ambiguous rubric continues to excite such fierce debate among Anglicans today. The reason for this is that since the 1850s this rubric has become a frequent site for battles over Anglican identity.[1] So much ink (literal and…
From youth this cool, grey stone enchanted me,Its beauty one with its simplicity:The Archer of Aphaia poised to strike,Or mighty Neptune with his triple spike,The pointed arches of the Notre-Dame,Ascending heavenward with perfect calm:Their colors were but subtlety and shade,Nor garish nor flamboyant, rather madeOf naught but stone, quite serious and pure.Their substance never fading…
In my last piece, the first part of this overview of the annual cycles of Bible reading in the Prayer Book, I discussed the Calendar with Table of Lessons for Morning and Evening Prayer (that is, the daily lectionary) and the Epistles and Gospels for the Lord’s Supper (that is the Communion lectionary). These are…
We tend to think of the Book of Common Prayer as a collection of rituals, but its original preface presents it as a means for hearing the word of God. Cranmer’s Preface recommends it with these words: [H]ere you have an order for prayer (as touching the reading of holy scripture) much agreeable to the…
E. L. Mascall has featured in three recent pieces on The North American Anglican, Clinton Collister’s “Year in Reading,” Gerald McDermott’s “E. L. Mascall: A Theologian in, from, and for the Church,” and Preston Hill’s review of Mascall’s book Christ the Christian, and the Church. Along with Preston Hill and Clinton Collister I have been…
For Anglicans, commentary on our liturgy has been — more than in any other tradition — one of the main vehicles for exploring, explaining, and debating our doctrine. This has led to some unfortunate exaggerations, like the false notion that Anglicans don’t have a theology, only set forms of prayer. Nevertheless, as Archbishop Ramsey liked…
From youth this cool, grey stone enchanted me, Its beauty one with its simplicity: The Archer of Aphaia poised to strike, Or mighty Neptune with his triple spike, The pointed arches of the Notre-Dame, Ascending heavenward with perfect calm: Their colors were but subtlety and shade, Nor garish nor flamboyant, rather made of naught but…
The reformed liturgy for baptism in the 1549 Prayer Book includes a biblical justification for the baptism of infants, Mark 10:13-16: At a certayne tyme they brought children to Christe that he should touche them, and hys disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus sawe it, he was displeased, and sayed unto them:…
