The Book of Common Prayer: A Biography

Jacobs (Distinguished Professor of the Humanities in the Honors Program, Baylor Univ.; Original Sin: A Cultural History) provides a fascinating, fast-paced account of the 464 years of "life" that the Book of Common Prayer has both enjoyed and suffered. Often involved in political as well as religious controversy; revised according to dominant theological, political, national, and linguistic needs; beloved, demonized, and disregarded, the book was revered for its stately style and literary parallelism but eschewed by others for its set forms of prayer that did not engage in charisma and emotion. It was almost killed, then resurrected. The book continues to "live" a varied and global existence. Conceived to unite English people in the same form of worship, it itself became pluriform and a source of controversy; intended to promote the salvation of Christian people, it caused the violent death of its life giver Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, among others.