About

Prayer Book exploration for everyone

The Book of Common Prayer (BCP) and its several revisions are landmark documents of the Anglican tradition and the English language. Its unique rites, formulations, and collects are suffused with Biblical quotation and allusion. For five centuries, the BCP has stood at the foundation of liturgical development in the English language, and forms the backbone of the prayer life of some 85 million Anglicans around the world today.

Since its inception, the BCP has prompted a great number of works by innumerable church scholars who sought to understand the connections it makes with Scripture, the historical innovations and correctives it makes in its original context, and the place it makes for Anglicans desiring to worship in the great tradition of the universal Church then and today. Taking apart the BCP by sections, these scholars produced detailed analyses of each office's inner workings. Diving into these fascinating works in a print medium alone would require significant preexisting familiarity with the BCP, and lots of pen and paper to keep track of Biblical citations to look up and coindices from one work to another!

The Scriptural BCP ports scriptural concordances and commentaries on the Book of Common Prayer to an online medium for easy exploration, so that anyone can learn more. Scholars and laypeople alike can browse, expand, and interact with this treasure of the Anglican tradition in a new way.

F.A.Q.

What resources can I view with the Scriptural BCP?

The Scriptural BCP supports scriptural concordances as well as commentaries. Check the Bibliography for an up-to-date list of included resources.

Can I use the Scriptural BCP for a project/class/sermon? What about passing it along to others?

Yes on all counts! The Scriptural BCP is for everybody: laypeople and scholars alike.

I'm interested in a resource that isn't included (yet). How can I get it added to the Scriptural BCP?

Get in touch with the editor, and we'll see what we can do. We want to add much more! The main restriction (besides the editor's time) regarding what can be posted here is copyright: not all editions of the Book of Common Prayer worldwide are in the public domain or have a license for free reproduction, and most modern commentaries are under copyright.

Is the Scriptural BCP affiliated with a particular Anglican body? What are your stances on... ?

No. The BCP is the heritage of Anglicans worldwide, and is a document beneficial to and appreciated by even non-Anglicans. The Scriptural BCP therefore is of singular purpose and takes no stance on any issue outside enthusiasm for the Prayer Book tradition.