WHOA!! The Book of Common Prayer 2019 Embodies the Theology of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer?!

Fake Plastic Food

By Robin G. Jordan

In an era of fake news and false narratives it is not surprising to run into inaccurate descriptions of The Book of Common Prayer 2019 by members of the ACNA’s Prayer Book and Liturgy Task Force promoting the book. Ben Jefferies’ open letter to Drew Keane is an example.

Jefferies has been very busy lately creating his own false narrative about the ACNA’s Prayer Book 2019, arguing that it embodies the theology of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. I analyzed Jefferies’ letter and drew two conclusions from the analysis.

What Jefferies is attempting to do is use the ACNA’s Prayer Book and Liturgy Task Force’s cannibalization of texts from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and his own reinterpretation of the theology of the 1662 Prayer Book to justify his assertion that The Book of Common Prayer 2019 embodies the theology of the 1662 Prayer Book. In doing so he resorts to old-fashioned sophistry.

For readers who may be unfamiliar with the term, Merriam Webster offers this explanation of sophistry.

Sophistry is reasoning that seems plausible on a superficial level but is actually unsound, or reasoning that is used to deceive.

Jefferies may believe what he claims. But whether or not he does, he is misleading his readers and listeners with his assertion. If one does a straightforward analysis of the doctrine and practices of the two books, it is clear that they embody quite different theologies. Any similarity between the two books is superficial.

For readers who may be interested in learning more about the theology of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, I recommend  The Tutorial Prayer Book for the Teacher, the Student, and the General Reader, edited by Charles Neil and J. M. Willoughby, Harrison Trust, 1913. In their section on The Interpretative Principles of the Tractarian Movement (pp. 269-280) Neil and Willoughby address Jefferies’ claim that the 1662 Book of Common Prayer teaches a form of eucharistic sacrifice. In their section on Prayers for the Dead (pp. 481-483), they address his claim that the 1662 Prayer Book contains prayers for the dead.