the new proposal from the Church of England to replace the Book of Common Prayer that had graced the pews of churches nationwide since 1661. Its introduction provoked dispute
The Church of England has recently introduced a modern version of its services entitled “common worship”. This provides the latest alternatives to the traditional language of the sixteenth and seventeenth century versions. There has been fierce controversy about the appropriateness of the changes, with the Prince of Wales defending the seventeenth century publication and the bishop of Salisbury supporting the new book.
Published in autumn 1999, the book of common worship was the new proposal from the Church of England to replace the Book of Common Prayer that had graced the pews of churches nationwide since 1661. Its introduction provoked dispute between Christians as the argument of tradition over the need for change began.
The BCP contains services like communion and is written in what is known today as early modern English, similar to that of Shakespeare’s work. By taking into account the current purposes and priorities of the Church of England; as numbers of people attending services are diminishing it would be recommended to prioritise improving its appeal to the masses, thus increasing interest and believers. We then have to consider whether maintaining the tradition and the heritage of “common prayer” is more valued to the church than the amount of people attending church. Putting the content of BCP into the modern day context it is not practical. It is argued that the dated language alienates attendance numbers in church as it is harder to understand, therefore has less significance in meaning. For example archaic and unfamiliar lexis such as the use of the subjunctive “glory be to god”, compound words “only-begotten” and repetition of “thou” are all unfamiliar to the young audience of today that the church is wishing to attract if they wish attendance numbers to augment. Therefore confusing and losing any meaning of the holy texts to an audience who are less favourable to making an effort to comprehend something that is considered boring and insignificant in comparison to the modern alternatives available.