Book of Common Worship

Service book of the Church of England and the Episcopal Church, based largely on the Roman breviary.

The first service book in English, published in 1549, was known as the First Prayer Book of Edward VI, and is the basis of the service book still (although not exclusively) in use. The Second Prayer Book of Edward VI appeared in 1552, but was withdrawn in 1553 on Mary I's accession. A Revised Prayer Book was issued in 1559 as part of Elizabeth I's religious settlement; minor revisions were made to this in 1604, after the accession of James I. The prayer book was suppressed by Parliament in 1645, but came back into use after the Restoration, with further minor revisions being made in 1662. This version became the officially authorized Book of Common Prayer, but an act of 1968 legalized alternative services, and the Worship and Doctrine Measure 1974 gave the church control of its worship and teaching. The church's Alternative Service Book (1980), in contemporary language, is also in use. The Book of Common Prayer was renamed the Book of Common Worship in November 2000.

The first 1549 prayer book was written under the guidance of Thomas Cranmer; it condemned some Catholic practices, but in many ways avoided controversy and had an Erasmian tinge. The 1552 version was more strident in its Zwinglian condemnation of the Catholic Mass and its support for the doctrine of transubstantiation, but it still fell short of a Calvinist position. Elizabeth's prayer book was based on this second prayer book, but with some additions from the 1549 book, which softened the denial of transubstantiation.