Scholarly Articles

Scholarly Articles

(Many of the following essays appeared in the “Machray Review”,
an academic journal that was published by the PBSC between 1992 and 1998.)


“Filled With the Knowledge of His Will” (Col. 1:1-14)

By the Revd. Ed Hird, then rector of St. Simon’s Church in North Vancouver. This address was given in 1999 at a special event organized by the Toronto Branch of the PBSC in celebration of the 450th anniversary of the first Book of Common Prayer. Read here.


The End of the Liturgical Movement and the Recovery of Biblical Worship

An essay written in 1998 by the Rt. Revd. Anthony Burton, then Bishop of Saskatchewan, presenting the liturgical theories that had informed recently produced books of worship and advocating a return to the principles underlying Prayer Book worship. Read here.


Good Manners: The Place of Public Language

By Dr Kenneth M. Hamilton, Professor Emeritus of Theology and Literature at the University of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Published in the “Machray Review” in 1998. Read here.


The Devotional Use of the Book of Common Prayer

By the Revd. David Robarts, Vice-Chairman of the Prayer Book Society in Australia (Victoria Branch). Published in the “Machray Review” in 1998. Read here.


The Solemn Declaration and the Place of Holy Scripture

By Professor David Lyle Jeffrey. This address was given at Ashbury College, Ottawa, in 1996 as part of the PBSC Ottawa Branch’s “Prayer Book Basic Training” series. Read here.


Some Observations on the Daily Offices

A paper delivered by Bishop Anthony Burton at a theological conference held at Okanagan University, Kelowna, BC, in 1995. Bishop Burton argues for a rediscovery of the classical BCP offices of Morning and Evening Prayer in personal devotion. Read here.


“Comfortable Words”

A series of reflections by the Revd. Dr. Thomas H. Curran on some of the most memorable phrases in the Prayer Book. This essay was published in booklet form in 1994 by the Nova Scotia and PEI branch of the PBSC. Read here.


New Testament Christianity is Reflected Courageously in the Book of Common Prayer

An address given in 1993 to the Vancouver Branch of the PBSC by the Rt. Revd. Michael Green, previously on the faculty of Regent College and at that time newly appointed as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Missionary Extraordinary to England. Read here.


“Understanded of the People” – Is Our Language of Worship Obsolete?

An address given to the Toronto Branch of the PBSC in the early 1990s by branch vice-chairman and scholar of English Dr. William G. Cooke. This address was also published in booklet form. Read here.


The Book of Common Prayer: The Book for a Resurrection People

By the Revd. Gordon Neish. An address given at the Annual General Meeting of the Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island Branch of the PBSC, May 1992. Read here.


The Prayer Book as a Guide to Practical Christian Living

By the Revd. Canon John Matheson. This article is based on addresses given by Canon Matheson during a speaking tour for the Society in the dioceses of New Westminster, Cariboo, Kootenay, Edmonton, Athabasca and Calgary, in 1992. Read here.


The Prayer Book in an Age of Nintendo

By the Revd. Anthony H. Bassett. This article is based on addresses given by Fr. Bassett during the same 1992 speaking tour mentioned above. Read here.


The Daily Offices

An address delivered by Fr. A.C. Hebert in 1951. Fr. Hebert was an early Anglican promoter of the Liturgical Movement, but unlike many followers of that movement, he sought to work within the BCP rather than replace it. Reprinted in the “Machray Review”, 1998. Read here


Scholarly Articles by the Revd. David Curry

(The essays and addresses that follow below were written by the Revd. David Curry,
a long-standing national vice-chairman of the PBSC.
Fr. Curry is currently the rector of Christ Church, Windsor in Nova Scotia.)

Redire ad principia: The Mystical Theology of The Book of Common Prayer

An address given to the Annual General Meeting of the PBSC in 2017.

Read here (PDF)


Advent Meditations on Psalms 80 and 85

Written for Advent 2015.

Read here (PDF)


“Let Me Go to the Field …”

A sermon preached at a service of choral Evensong at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Charlottetown, PEI, on the eighteenth Sunday after Trinity, 2015.

Read here (PDF)


Through the Eyes of John

An address given to the Annual General Meeting of the PBSC in 2014.

Read here (PDF)


“How Readest Thou?”

An address given to the Annual General Meeting of the PBSC in 2011.

Read here (PDF)


Unchurching Common Prayer

A 1999 essay on the Canadian situation, written for the 450th anniversary of the first Book of Common Prayer.

Read here


The Eucharistic Heart of the Prayer Book

This article, on the Prayer Book Eucharistic lectionary, was first published in 1999 in the journal “Mandate”.

Read here


The Prayer Book and Revision

Published in the PBSC Newsletter, April 1996.

Read here


Something Understood: Doctrine in Devotion

Written in August 1995.

Read here


The Solemn Declaration: The Net of Memory

The Eugene Forsey Memorial Lecture, held in Ottawa in 1993.

Read here


Doctrinal Instrument of Salvation: The Use of Scripture in the Prayer Book Lectionary

A paper presented at the third annual Atlantic Theological Conference, held in Charlottetown in 1985.

Read here