The Prayer Book as Regula

The Prayer Book as Regula
Liturgical, Sacramental, Catholic Spiritual Life
by Matthew Dallman

If the Church is the extension of the Incarnation of
Christ, then it is through the Church that Christ’s
presence continues to live and grow.

So, what is meant by “presence”?

The presence of Christ is understood
at least five ways.

at least five ways.

in all creation and creatures, generally

at least five ways.


in gatherings of the baptized

at least five ways.



in the Word of Scripture proclaimed

at least five ways.




in the person of the celebrating priest/bishop

at least five ways.




in the person of the celebrating priest/bishop

in the Eucharist and as minister in all Sacraments

What the Prayer Book does expertly is
articulate a corporate response
to Christ's presence —

What the Prayer Book does expertly is
articulate a corporate response
to Christ's presence —
that is, a response by the members of his Body.

With that introduction, we turn to a primary question:

With that introduction, we turn to a primary question:
What is the Prayer Book?

Yes, it is a bound collection of liturgies...

...for Baptism

...for Baptism
...for Eucharist

...for Baptism
...for Eucharist
...for Reconciliation

...for Baptism
...for Eucharist
...for Confirmation

...for Baptism
...for Eucharist
...for Confirmation
…for Matrimony

...for Baptism
...for Eucharist
...for Confirmation
…for Matrimony
...for Holy Orders (Bishop, Priest, Deacon)

...for Baptism
...for Eucharist
...for Confirmation
…for Matrimony
...for Death and Burial

...for Baptism
...for Eucharist
...for Confirmation
…for Matrimony
...for the entire Liturgical Year

...for Baptism
...for Eucharist
...for Confirmation
…for Matrimony
...for the Divine Office

...for Baptism
...for Eucharist
...for Confirmation
…for Matrimony
...for the Divine Office
...for sanctification of all moments.

Yes, it is a bound collection of various books...

...missal

...missal
...breviary

...missal
...breviary
...prymer (catechism)

...missal
...breviary
...calendar

...missal
...breviary
...calendar
…psalter

...missal
...breviary
...calendar
...psalter
...pontifical

...missal
...breviary
...calendar
...psalter
...pontifical
...lectionary

...missal
...breviary
...calendar
...psalter
...pontifical
...lectionary
...collectar (collects)

...missal
...breviary
...calendar
...psalter
...pontifical
...lectionary
...rituale

...missal
...breviary
...calendar
...psalter
...pontifical
...lectionary
...rituale
...and more.

Yes, its title “Common Prayer”
was a deliberate contrast to late medieval customs...

Yes, its title “Common Prayer”
was a deliberate contrast to late medieval customs...
...when the official Divine Office was
the private work of clergy and monastics.

Yes, its introduction disappointed both extremes...

...those who wanted complete change of the Church

...those who wanted complete change of the Church
...and those who wanted none.

Its introduction (1549) was not without turbulence
but it came to be loved

Its introduction (1549) was not without turbulence
but it came to be loved
and, under the Puritan government
of the 17th century which tried to outlaw it,
protected and practiced in the home.

These are all important attributes of the Prayer Book —
attributes that have been and continue to be subjects of
important study and debates.

And yet the primary question remains:

Yes, it involves a reaction to 16th
-century movements
in the Western Church...

-century movements
...to Martin Luther

-century movements
...to Martin Luther
...to John Calvin

-century movements
...to Martin Luther
...to John Calvin
...to Martin Bucer

-century movements
...to Martin Luther
...to John Calvin
...to Martin Bucer
… to Huldrych Zwingli

-century movements
...to Martin Luther
...to John Calvin
...to Martin Bucer
...to Cardinal Francisco de Quiñones, and others

-century movements
...to Martin Luther
...to John Calvin
...to Martin Bucer
...to Medieval liturgical piety, in general

-century movements
...to Martin Luther
...to John Calvin
...to Martin Bucer
...to perceptions of sacramental abuse in the Church

-century movements
...to Martin Luther
...to John Calvin
...to Martin Bucer
...to perceptions of sacramental abuse in the Church
...to calls for Scripture and Liturgy in vernacular language

Yes, it is something of a product of the theology of
Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury.

But, no!
It is not merely a product of the 16th
century!

But, no!
It is not merely a product of the 16th
century!
There is a great deal of spirituality “behind the text”...

Its lineage also includes...
...the New Testament Church

...the Celtic penitential system

...the major influence of St Augustine and his heirs

…The Rule of St Benedict and
Benedictine/Cistercian monastic life in England

…St Anselm (Archbishop of Canterbury)

...the influences of the Franciscans and St Thomas Aquinas

As well as a culture of English anchorite spirituality, reflected by

Ancrene Riwle (c. 13th
century)

century)
The Scale of Perfection, by Walter Hilton (c. 1390)

century)
The Revelations, by Julian of Norwich (c. 1393)

century)
The Revelations, by Julian of Norwich (c. 1393)
The Book of Margery Kempe (c. 1420)

And, in terms of the prayer life, that is,
the corporate experience,

And, in terms of the prayer life, that is,
the corporate experience,
the Prayer Book
interprets and clarifies
all ages of the English Church.

How?
...some call it a “way of life”

How?
...some identify as “Prayer Book Catholics”

How?
...or “Prayer Book Christians”

How?
...or “Prayer Book Christians”
But what does this really mean?

It has everything to do with how we understand
the role of the Prayer Book in the communal life.

It has everything to do with how we understand
the role of the Prayer Book in the communal life.
Meaning . . .

The Prayer Book is a Regula.
...an order for a community’s life

The Prayer Book is a Regula.
...an order for a community’s life
...an order for community’s prayer life.

What is “Regula”?
“Regula” refers to a system of worship
that, as a whole,

that, as a whole,
articulates and gives shape
to an environment of
total and continuous relationship
with the presence of God

that, as a whole,
articulates and gives shape
to an environment of
total and continuous relationship
with the presence of God
by a community.

It is Latin for “rule,” in the sense of

It is Latin for “rule,” in the sense of
pattern, model, total system.

By means of Regula,
we respond to Christ’s presence:

By means of Regula,
in creation and all creatures

By means of Regula,

By means of Regula,
in the Word proclaimed

By means of Regula,
in the celebrating priest

By means of Regula,
in the celebrating priest
in the Sacraments

When the Christian life is prayed
as Regula, then...

as Regula, then...
the Liturgy is not a service but a dynamic system that
responds to a sacramental environment.

as Regula, then...
the Liturgy is not our theology, but God’s theology.

as Regula, then...
Less important than how we imagine God to be
is how God imagines us to be...

as Regula, then...
Less important than how we imagine God to be
is how God imagines us to be...
...and God imagines us to be liturgical.

Regula empowers, capacitates, enables,
enacts, strengthens, orders, shapes.

Regula empowers, capacitates, enables,
enacts, strengthens, orders, shapes.
But it is always a response.

How is the Prayer Book a Regula?

Owing to printing press technology, the 16th
-century English Church
leadership codified and standardized the various liturgical practices and
uses of the age into a single, corporate, liturgical system.

So, the fundamental liturgical paradigm shifted

from visual to aural,

from sight-based to sound-based,

from “left-brain” to “right-brain” (so-called).

century English Church
Importantly, the same system applies to clergy and laity alike.

century English Church
Importantly, the same system applies to clergy and laity alike.
Note: this is a 16th
-centurty version of what St Benedict did with his Rule.

And, all of this is directly and immediately congruent
with the New Testament Church.

We know because of
the 2nd chapter of The Acts of the Apostles.

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching
and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the
prayers.” (Acts 2.42)

This is the basis and framework for
The Rule of St Benedict
and the orthodox Catholic life in general.

This is the basis and framework for
The Rule of St Benedict
and the orthodox Catholic life in general.
This is the basis and framework of the Prayer Book.

In our contemporary terminology:

apostles’ teaching and fellowship = “Devotion”

the breaking of bread = “Mass”

the breaking of bread = “Mass”
the prayers = “Divine Office”

These three practices respond to the environment
described in Acts 2.1-41.

These three practices respond to the environment
described in Acts 2.1-41.
And, by the way, have you looked at how insanely vibrant
that environment must have been?

So, the Prayer Book as Regula works like this:

So, the Prayer Book as Regula works like this:
This is the “threefold” pattern of
corporate response ordered by the Prayer Book.

To the triune God—the Holy Trinity—
we respond with a threefold Regula:

Divine Office is our responding to
the transcendent reality of God the Father.

Mass is our responding to the presence of God the Son.

Mass is our responding to the presence of God the Son.
Devotion is our responding to the activity
of God the Holy Spirit.

Divine Office
Response of praise and thanksgiving to the Father Almighty, our
transcendent source of all Being, by the entirety of the Body of Christ: in
visible creation (Church Militant) and in Paradise (Church Expectant)
and in Heaven (Church Triumphant) in the power of the Spirit.

Divine Office
The articulation of invariable, set-prayer forms developed by the Church,
not subjectively in the moment. We join with the Angels and all the
company of Heaven —
the paradigm of the “Our Father.”

Divine Office
The articulation of invariable, set-prayer forms developed by the Church,
not subjectively in the moment. We join with the Angels and all the
company of Heaven —
the paradigm of the “Our Father.”
The Divine Office affirms objective doctrine about God
and the salvation we gain through Christ alone.

Mass
Communion with God the Son, whose reality is both immanent and
transcendent, in the power of the Spirit and by virtue of our
creatureliness owing entirely to the Father.

Mass
Both invariable and variable — Christ's identity fixed and
growing/becoming through the Church, the extension of Incarnation.
The paradigm of Sacrament of the Eucharist:
our daily and eternal bread of life.

Mass
Both invariable and variable — Christ's identity fixed and
growing/becoming through the Church, the extension of Incarnation.
The paradigm of Sacrament of the Eucharist:
our daily and eternal bread of life.
Through Christ, we can look
backward: examination of conscience in the week of ministry past,
forward: ministry ahead and the ultimacy of the future, and
in the present: open acceptance of the past and commitment to the future.

Devotion
Response of openness to the presence of God the Holy Spirit, our
immanent comforter, who guides the baptized into the unity of all truth,
all goodness, all beauty, the source of which is God the Father through
definitive expression in his Son.

Devotion
Essentially variable: an existential and subjective living-into a Scriptural
life in love and stewardship and ministry toward God's creatures and the
seeking and serving of Christ in all persons —
the paradigm of our baptismal covenant.

Devotion
Essentially variable: an existential and subjective living-into a Scriptural
life in love and stewardship and ministry toward God's creatures and the
seeking and serving of Christ in all persons —
the paradigm of our baptismal covenant.
Scripture is the thesaurus of our corporate experience:
Scripture and the Church’s corporate experience
mutually interpret one another.

Because Regula is the means for total response,
omission or de-emphasis of any element of Regula
can lead to spiritual imbalance.

Because Regula is the means for total response,
omission or de-emphasis of any element of Regula
can lead to spiritual imbalance.
Simply put, omission means
a less than full response to God.

De-emphasis of the Divine Office diminishes our sense of
divine transcendence and can lead to subjectivism,
sentimentality, pantheism, earth-bound faith.

De-emphasis of the Mass diminishes our sense of sacramental
fellowship and can lead to idolatry and un-integrated life.

De-emphasis of Devotion diminishes our sense of divine
immanence and can leads to rigidity,
formalism, and insularity.

Only a complete and full Regula
supports a living and creative faith.

Only a complete and full Regula
supports a living and creative faith.
Through Regula, the whole person,
and a whole people,
respond to God.

Of course, the threefold Regula corresponds
to, and initiates, a variety of additional practices.

These make up “habitual recollection,”

These make up “habitual recollection,”
that is, seeing the divine presence in all things.

Key examples are:
Catechesis (of children and adults)

Key examples are:
Evangelization

Key examples are:
Evangelization
Mystagogy

Key examples are:
Evangelization
Mystagogy
Service and Stewardship

Key examples are:
Evangelization
Mystagogy
Spiritual Direction

Key examples are:
Evangelization
Mystagogy
Spiritual Direction
Examination of Conscience

Well, if you will excuse a diagram...

This is something of the Catholic life, a fuller expression,

of Regula and the means for habitual recollection,

of Regula and the means for habitual recollection,
all of which is supported by the Prayer Book.

And, yes, we aren’t big fans of diagrams either.

Through Catechesis, Mystagogy, and Spiritual Direction,
we respond particularly to Christ’s first commandment:

Through Catechesis, Mystagogy, and Spiritual Direction,
we respond particularly to Christ’s first commandment:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your mind (Mt 22.37).

Through Evangelization, Service and Stewardship, and Examination
of Conscience, we respond particularly to Christ’s second
commandment:

Through Evangelization, Service and Stewardship, and Examination
of Conscience, we respond particularly to Christ’s second
commandment:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Mt 22.39).

Note that Regula is necessary,
but does not as a single concept express the entirety
of Christian possibility.

Because Catechesis, Evangelization, and the rest
are really not optional, are they.

Yet Regula ensures balance, stability, and obedience day-to-day.

Yet Regula ensures balance, stability, and obedience day-to-day.
Note: these are Benedictine principles!

Overall, what does the Prayer Book order?

The Prayer Book orders life
according to the New Testament pattern:
profoundly trinitarian and anchored in response —
and an ongoing response to God means

The Prayer Book orders life
according to the New Testament pattern:
profoundly trinitarian and anchored in response —
and an ongoing response to God means
We live seeking our God-bestowed vocation.

And the Prayer Book orders a parish culture
that catechizes and evangelizes:

And the Prayer Book orders a parish culture
that catechizes and evangelizes:
sacramental intimacy with the presence of God
always and everywhere.

And, so

The Prayer Book is a system...

of discipleship
delighting in God’s will and walking in Christ's ways

of discipleship
delighting in God’s will and walking in Christ's ways
of ascetical theology
an articulating of the Church's corporate experience

rooted in English monasticism —
Celtic then Benedictine

rooted in English monasticism —
Celtic then Benedictine
and lived by laypersons, religious, and clergy alike.

Why?
Because its fundamental pattern
accords with the environment of Acts 2

Why?
Because its fundamental pattern
accords with the environment of Acts 2
and the practice of the Church
in all times and places.

For further reading about the Prayer Book as Regula, see
English Spirituality: An Outline of Ascetical Theology
According to the English Pastoral Tradition
by Martin Thornton

Bibliography
Blunt, J.H. “Introduction to the Daily Office” in The Annotated Book of Common Prayer: being an historical, ritual, and
theological commentary on the devotional system of the Church of England. New York: Dutton, 1903.
Fagerberg, David W. Theologia Prima: What is Liturgical Theology? 2nd ed. Chicago, Hillenbrand, 2004.
Gasquet, Aiden Cardinal, and Bishop, Edmund. Edward VI and the Book of Common Prayer. London: Sheed and Ward,
1928.
Hale, Robert. Canterbury and Rome: sister churches. London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1982.
Hatchett, Marion J. Commentary on the American Prayer Book. New York: Seabury, 1980.
Irvin, Dale T., and Sunquist, Scott W. History of the World Christian Movement: volume II, modern Christianity from 1454-
1800. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis, 2012.
Macquarrie, John. Paths in Spirituality. 2nd edition. Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse, 1992.
Macquarrie, John. Principles of Christian Theology. 2nd edition. London: SCM Press, 1977.
Maltby, Judith. Prayer Book and People in Elizabethan and Early Stuart Period. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
McLuhan, Marshall. The Gutenberg Galaxy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962.
Moorman, J.R.H. A History of the Church of England. New York: Morehouse, 1986.
Morrison, Stanley. English Prayer Books: an introduction to the literature of christian public worship. London: Cambridge
University Press, 1943.
Proctor, Francis, and Frere, Walter Howard. A New History of the Book of Common Prayer. London: Macmillan, 1949.
Spinks, Bryan D. “Anglicans and Dissenters”, in The Oxford History of Christian Worship, edited by Geoffrey Wainwright
and Karen B. Westerfield Tucker. London: Oxford, 2006.
Targoff, Ramie. Common Prayer: The Language of Public Devotion in Early Modern England. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 2001.
Thornton, Martin. English Spirituality: an outline of ascetical theology according to the English pastoral tradition. 2nd edition.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cowley, 1986.
Thornton, Martin. Feed My Lambs: Essays in Pastoral Reconstruction. Greenwich, Connecticut: Seabury, 1961.
Thornton, Martin. Prayer: A New Encounter. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cowley, 1988.
Thornton, Martin. The Purple Headed Mountain. Riverside, Illinois: Akenside Press, 2014.
Thornton, Martin. The Rock and the River: An Encounter between Traditional Spirituality and Modern Thought. New York,
Morehouse, 1965.
Wall, John N. Transformations of the Word: Spenser, Herbert, Vaughan. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1988.

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