Archbishop of Canterbury says ‘The Book of Common Prayer remains one of the standards of belief for Anglicans.’
From The Anglican Planet
For the first time during the 2008 Lambeth Conference, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, addressed the press and entertained questions from them. During this 25-minute press conference the Archbishop fielded questions on various topics, including the contentious issue of the ordination of women to the episcopate and the implications of the absence of numerous bishops from the Global South.
The session’s final question asked for him to offer further comments on his understanding of the role of the Book of Common Prayer within the Anglican Communion. Previously, during an address given to the bishops gathered for the three-day retreat which preceded the official start of the conference, Dr. Williams had indicated that he regards common prayer as a fundamental and necessary element for any future unity which the Anglican Communion might recover and enjoy.
At today’s press conference he further affirmed that “The Book of Common Prayer remains one of the standards of belief for Anglicans.”
When asked how he might relate this to both the historic Anglican formularies in general and The Book of Common Prayer (1549-1962) in particular, Dr. Williams said that the common prayer tradition was crucial and he further suggested that members of the worldwide Communion would have been less likely to come to a stand-off with each other if shared disciplines of common prayer and a rule of life arising from this common discipline had been in place and practiced.
He also observed that The Book of Common Prayer in particular has played a foundational role in our shared history and “we still see the bones sticking through in some places.” He said that the Book of Common Prayer “remains one of the standards of belief for Anglicans. This does not necessarily mean, he went on to say, that everyone will use it, but it is there as a touchstone. It is important that Anglicans not lose this common touchstone and convergent pattern. I might add,” he concluded, “that a shared rule of life, by which I mean how often one prays, seeks spiritual direction and so forth, is also an important factor when considering the question of unity through common prayer.”
The seriousness and interest with which Dr. Williams greeted this question and formed his response to it, underlines the current occupant of the See of Canterbury’s commitment to theological rigor and the recovery of inward life as the first priority toward the end of recovering outward unity in the communion.
As Williams has written in another context that might well refer to the common prayer tradition, the “great and lasting revivals of Christian spiritual seriousness…have all been occasions for the renewal of doctrinal depth and passion for the rediscovery of the dense and vital texture of creedal truth.”
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