Search results for ""author thomas cranmer""

There are many different opinions over the origin of the word collect. The Latin collecta means a gathered together. Whatever its origin, however, the collect is a very ancient prayer. This delightfully illustrated book contains the collects from the Book of Common Prayer. Some date back to the time of Leo I, more to Gelasius, and yet more to Gregory the Great. The wording of them in their present form owes much to that liturgical genius Thomas Cranmer, the sixteenth century archbishop and martyr. The collects are a perfect example of the Book of Common Prayer which itself was compiled at a time when for beauty of rhythm and splendour of diction, our language was at its zenith. Time and faith have hallowed this work, and the Prayer Book is now hailed as one of the supreme achievements of the English tongue. The wonderful prayers here are framed with enchanting illustrations which augment and enhance the beauty of the language. A Prayer for all Seasons was originally published by the Pr

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The plays of Shakespeare, the Authorized version of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer, all produced in the late 16th/early 17th centuries, are the three dounding texts of the English nation and its language. Not only do they share a beauty and a power of style which have never been equalled: their influence on Anglophone culture remains profound. Originally produced by Archbishop Cranmer and his allies to bolster the Tudor secession from Catholicism, the Pray Book rapidly took on a life of its own. Until the present century, most Anglicans knew long stretches of the text by heart. It invaded the style of 17th-century p oets and even 19th century novelists like George Elliot. It still colours our language and our way of feeling today, though we hardly know it. In recent years the Prayer Book has been under attack by modernizers and radicals within the church itself. On the 450th anniversary of its first appearance, the time has come to proclaim the value of this work once more and to recognize it for what it is: a liturgical and literary masterpiece.

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