Book of Common Prayer, Enlarged Edition, Burgundy, CP420 701B Burgundy

Good sized print so easy to read

This historic and traditional book retains its value in walking the Christian journey. It’s time to re-evaluate life - read the timeless words of scripture and the various congregational services for celebration and everyday. This volume is worth the money to set a new rhythm of life

This is a beautifully produced edition of The Book of Common Prayer. Some have complained that the description of the cover as imitation leather is false. It may not be genuine leather, but it has a lovely feel and the description makes it quite clear that it is a hardback. The text is indeed enlarged, which makes it easy to read. As for the contents, I bought this not out of religious conviction, but because I love the language (the same reason I love the King James bible) I have no hesitation in recommending this edition whether it be to read at home or to take with you to church.

What a relief to be able to read this wonderful book without squinting! Putting a ribbon it it would get it the final star…!

Usefull.

Big font, beautiful English, my own English language rooted from similar book, hard cover.

The 1662 version of the Prayer Book, nicely bound and presented by the CUP. Text is crystal clear and very easy to read and pleasantly bound with a "leatherette" cover. A treasure and an inheritance - so pleased I purchased this. The Psalter alone is enough to transport the Soul to the realms of Heaven and the Liturgy is timeless. A thing of supreme beauty.

So perfect for leading BCP worship. However not all church prayer books are the same…so check first!

I lost my own copy of the BCP that I’d had for many years so I bought this one. It is a great size and so is the print. I’m so grateful that I bought it as it helps me focus on my prayer time with God.

This Book of Common Prayer (1662) is the 'primary' BCP, used by the Church of England proper, the original branch of the Anglicans. There have been many books that have had the title 'Book of Common Prayer' since the first one appeared in 1549; it has been used continuously in one edition or another in the Anglican tradition since 1559; the 'main' edition remains this 1662 edition. Churches in other nations (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the United States, Canada) have done revised Books of Common Prayer, but they always use this as the touchstone. A bishop in the Episcopal church once said to me, 'We don't have a theology that we have to believe -- what we have is the prayerbook.' Please forgive the absence of context for this phrase -- while he would say that this statement in isolation is an exaggeration, and I would agree, nonetheless his statement serves to highlight both the importance of and the strength of the Book of Common Prayer. To be an Anglican, one does not have to subscribe to any particular systematic theological framework. One does not have to practice a particular brand of liturgical style. One does not have to have an approved politico-theological viewpoint. One can be a conservative, liberal or moderate; one can be high church, low church, or broad; one can be charismatic, evangelical, or mainline traditional -- one can be any number of things in a rich diversity of choices, and the Book of Common Prayer can still be the book upon which spirituality and worship is centred. The Book of Common Prayer is not, in fact, a book that changed my life. It is a book that changes my life. Even though it is not the primary book of my own church, it continues to provide for spiritual insight and development; it continues to guide my worship and my theology. It continues to help me grow. The words are part of a liturgy now shared by Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian and other liturgical churches, in different combination and priority. Gerry Janzen, an Anglican professor at my seminary, said to me recently as we were lunching and having a fascinating and wide-ranging conversation (in a unique way that only Gerry Janzen is capable of doing) that he strives for that kind of memory and understanding that is so complete that one forgets what one has learned. He recounted to me his experience of working with his book on Job -- he had done a lot of research, development of ideas, writing, and organisation, and then set it aside for a time. When he picked up the topic later, he decided to begin by writing, and then go back to the research, other notes and writings he had done earlier. He was surprised to see, in comparing the work, that he had in fact duplicated much of the material -- he had internalised the information, incorporated it so well into his thinking and being, that it came forward without effort. It is this kind of relationship I feel I have developed with the Book of Common Prayer. To be sure, there are pages of information that I don't know. I haven't memorised the historical documents; I still consult the calendars; I haven't learned all of the collects by heart. But it has become a part of me. When was asked to put together a liturgy for a houseblessing for Episcopalian friends, there were rooms that called for collects that had not been written -- I wrote new collects and inserted them into the liturgy. 'Can you do that?' the householder asked, worried about the flow and the approval of the priest doing the blessing. 'I trust Kurt to write collects -- his probably belong in the BCP,' the priest said in response, and I appreciated her vote of confidence. That was perhaps the first confirmation to me of this sense of incorporation of the book into my life. From his first edition, Cranmer distinguished in his terminology the words minister and priest, and the two should not be viewed as interchangeable. A priest is a minister, but a minister need not be a priest. This become part of the early development of the idea of all people being ministers to each other, which is also a concept that has varying acceptance and fulfillment in actual practice over the history of Anglicanism. One of my favourite prayers derives from this book, part of the English prayer book from the very first one in 1549: Almighty God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication unto thee, and hast promised through thy well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his name, thou wilt be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be best for us, granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come, life everlasting. Amen. This prayer, like many things in the BCP, has moved to a new location from the first edition, but nonetheless the spirit of the BCP shows a circuitous but continuous development from the first English Prayer Book to the current varieties. Likewise, other denominations have gleaned insights, prayers and structures from this and other versions of the BCP. The Book of Common Prayer, as a single unit and as a greater tradition of which this book is a part, is an Anglican gift to the world.

One of the best book I have received.

Excellent value. This BCP is presented in an attractive binding with clear, readable type. I wish there were a ribbon bookmark, but that’s a minor quibble. I would certainly recommend.