When a UK newspaper recently reported a Prayer Book Society statement on the increased attendance which marked the renewed use of the Book of Common Prayer 1662 in a London parish church, some quarters of Anglican clerical Twitter (rather predictably) lamented that the use of 1662 was inherently reactionary. My initial response was a mixture of frustration and amusement. To judge the average Anglican congregation throughout these Islands attending 1662 (or variant) Early Communion or Evensong as reactionary culture warriors is, to say the least, odd. Indeed, it comes rather close to bearing false witness. Of course, it also suggests another difficulty. For some Anglican clerics, having conservative views on the constitution and standing for the National Anthem is indeed reactionary. Whatever would they have made of Clement Attlee ? The suggestion that use of 1662 is reactionary also betrays a lack of theological imagination, a flat, insi...
Protestant Episcopalian - Burkean - clerk in holy orders