The Collects Of Thomas Cranmer

Published on the occasion of the 450th anniversary of the Book of Common Prayer.

Published on the occasion of the 450th anniversary of the Book of Common Prayer, The Collects of Thomas Cranmer presents this spiritually rich material in its original form and order. Compiled and presented for devotional use by C. Frederick Barbee and Paul Zahl, Cranmer's Collects are each followed by succinct commentary on their historical context and an insightful meditation crafted with contemporary Christians in mind.

The Anglican Church worship and liturgy.

Compiled during the early years of the Reformation, Institution of a Christian Man lays out the principles of the nascent Church of England. In this definitive new edition, Gerald Bray charts the development of this text from the first version introduced by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and his cohort of bishops, to the extensive edits made by Henry VIII himself, and finally to the version written by Bishop Edmund Bonner under the radically different circumstances of Mary I’s reign.

"While many of us are familiar with such famous words as, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here." or "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," we may not know that they originated with The Book of Common Prayer, which first appeared in 1549. Like the words of the King James Bible and Shakespeare, the language of this prayer book has saturated English culture and letters. Here Alan Jacobs tells its story. Jacobs shows how The Book of Common Prayer--from its beginnings as a means of social and political control in the England of Henry VIII to its worldwide presence today--became a venerable work whose cadences express the heart of religious life for many.The book's chief maker, Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, created it as the authoritative manual of Christian worship throughout England. But as Jacobs recounts, the book has had a variable and dramatic career in the complicated history of English church politics, and has been the focus of celebrations, protests, and even jail terms. As time passed, new forms of the book were made to suit the many English-speaking nations: first in Scotland, then in the new United States, and eventually wherever the British Empire extended its arm. Over time, Cranmer's book was adapted for different preferences and purposes. Jacobs vividly demonstrates how one book became many--and how it has shaped the devotional lives of men and women across the globe"--.

Relates one of the most remarkable lives in the tumultuous English Reformation Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556) was the first Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, the author of the Book of Common Prayer, and a central figure in the English Protestant Reformation. Few theologians have led such an eventful life: Cranmer helped Henry VIII break with the pope, pressed his vision of the Reformation through the reign of Edward VI, was forced to recant under Queen Mary, and then dramatically withdrew his recantations before being burned alive. This lively biography by Leslie Williams narrates Cranmer's life from the beginning, through his education and history with the monarchy, to his ecclesiastical trials and eventual martyrdom. Williams portrays Cranmer's ongoing struggle to reconcile his two central loyalties—allegiance to the crown and fidelity to the Reformation faith—as she tells his fascinating life story.