Description
Book SynopsisThe third of four volumes, containing the edited texts, commentaries and source notes for each of the nearly nine hundred occasions of special worship including the development of national days of prayer during the two world wars,and a proliferation of nation-wide services for royal occasions. Since the sixteenth century, the governments and established churches of the British Isles have summoned the nation to special acts of public worship during periods of anxiety and crisis, at times of celebration, or for annual commemoration and remembrance. These special prayers, special days of worship and anniversary commemorations were national events, reaching into every parish in England and Wales, in Scotland, and in Ireland. They had considerable religious, ecclesiastical, political, ideological, moral and social significance, and they produced important texts: proclamations, council orders, addresses and - in England and Wales, and in Ireland - prayers or complete liturgies which for specified periods supplemented or replaced the services in the Book of Common Prayer. Many of these acts of special worship and most of the texts have escaped historical notice. National Prayers: Special Worship since the Reformation, in four volumes, provides the edited texts, commentaries and source notes for each of the nearly nine hundred occasions of special worship, and for each of the annual commemorations. The third volume, Worship for National and Royal Occasions in the United Kingdom 1871-2016, reveals the considerable changes in special worship during modern times. These include new subjects for special prayers, many services for royal events, wartime national days of prayer, and developing co-operation among leaders of the main British churches, together with transformations in the styles of worship in both the Church of England and the Church of Scotland
Table of ContentsPreface The project group Additions and corrections Summary list of particular occasions of worship, 1871-2016 Reader's guide and editorial conventions List of abbreviations Introduction: 1871-2016 Definitions National worship Styles of worship Decisions The documents: composition, printing, distribution and sale Special worship in the empire and commonwealth Bibliography of works relating to special worship, 1871-2016 Special worship and the Book of Common Prayer Texts and Commentaries, 1871-2016
