Liturgica: The BCP in Ireland

I VISITED the Church of Ireland Theological Institute in Dublin in 2018, to study the history of the Book of Common Prayer in Ireland. I asked both faculty and students what they thought worked well in the present book, and what needed revision.

The Church in Ireland received the 1549 BCP, but never received that of 1552. Only with the Elizabethan Settlement did the 1559 revision of 1552 become the Prayer Book of the Irish Church, and then the slight revision of 1604 was translated into Irish in 1608. After the English Civil War, the 1662 BCP was enacted in Ireland with an Act of Uniformity in 1665. Revisions followed in 1878, and canons were enacted to prevent the ritualism of the Oxford Movement invading the Church of Ireland. A further revision of the BCP took place in 1926.

* Full article available in printed copies.

Bryan D. Spinks

is Professor of Liturgical Studies and Pastoral Theology at Yale Divinity School, a former member of the Church of England Liturgical Commission and president emeritus of the Church Service Society of the Church of Scotland.