Tracts for New Enquirers: Roots - The Oxford Movement and The Prayer Book

In the 1800s, the Anglican Church had a revival, a new birth of faith and practice, which is called the Catholic Revival, the Tractarian Movement, or the Oxford Movement. Our Church today is the heir of this wonderful re-starting of Anglo-Catholic belief and worship. This movement, of which we are members, is called 'Tractarian' because the Priests who started it shared their faith in tracts, or little books they wrote. It is also called the Oxford Movement because it began at Oxford University in England.

The Oxford Movement recovered the faith and teaching of the Book of Common Prayer; its founders and leaders did not go outside the Prayer Book to find the Catholic Faith of Christ: it was waiting there all the while to be believed again. The Oxford Movement served the Church by showing her again that the official teaching of the Anglican Church is Catholic AND is found in the Prayer Book. The Prayer Book contains all the essential parts of the Faith and Sacraments. It also continues the traditional Church Year, the feasts and fasts that teach major doctrines and mark the important times of the year. The Prayer Book also helps Christians lead a life of discipline and personal prayer. The Book of Common Prayer is 80% Holy Scripture, and explains the meaning of the Bible. This is what the Oxford Movement wanted: the Doctrine of the Bible and the BCP.

Here are the contents of the Prayer Book - the whole Church's system of prayer and worship is in it:

1. Psalms and Lessons for the Christian Year
2. The Calendar
3. Table and Rules for Feasts, Fasts and Days of Supplication
4. Tables for finding Holy Days
5. The Order for Daily Morning Prayer
6. The Order for Daily Evening Prayer
7. Prayers and Thanksgivings
8. The Litany
9. The Penitential Office for Ash Wednesday
10. The Order for the Administration of the Holy Communion
11. Collects, Epistles and Gospels
12. The Ministration of Holy Baptism
13. Offices of Instruction
14. The Order of Confirmation
15. The Solemnization of Matrimony
16. The Thanksgiving of Women after Child-birth
17. The Order of the Visitation of the Sick
18. The Communion of the Sick
19. The Order for the Burial of the Dead
20. The Psalter or Psalms of David
21. The Form of Ordaining Bishops, Priests and Deacons
22. The Litany for Ordinations
23. The Form of Consecration of a Church or Chapel
24. The Office of Institution of Ministers
25. The Catechism
26. Form of Prayer for Families
27. The Articles of Religion

In truth, the Ordinal, the service for ordaining Bishops, Priests and Deacons, and the Articles of Religion are not part of the Book of Common Prayer itself but are published with it in one book.

As hoped by the Catholic Revival, anyone who uses the Prayer Book as the BCP intends gets a full course in the Apostolic Faith and practice every single year. The Prayer Book is simple enough to be used by laymen and clergymen alike. The clergy say Morning and Evening Prayer daily. Many lay people also pray these Offices each day too. The Prayer Book is in English so that those who use it can understand its meaning. Many, many people have joined our Church by reading the Book of Common Prayer or by attending the services offered with it. The Prayer Book speaks for itself.

The Movement which brought about a return to the Prayer Book and Prayer Book Catholic doctrine started at Oriel College at Oxford University. Four men were its first leaders. Father John Keble (1792-1866) was the son of a Priest and was himself ordained. A famous poet, he became professor of poetry at Oxford and wrote a book called The Christian Year. Father John Henry Newman (1801-1890) was a famous teacher, writer and Priest of Oxford's University Church of Saint Mary's. Dr Edward Bouverie Pusey (1800-1882) was a great Priest scholar and professor of Hebrew at Oxford. Father Richard Hurrell Froude (1803-1836) was a Priest and teacher at Oxford and died at a very young age. The Oxford Movement began with a sermon preached by John Keble in 1833, in which he taught that the Church is the Body of Jesus Christ, God's Family, not to be controlled by the government of the country. The Church, he taught, has its authority and power directly from Jesus Christ and the Apostles, and should never be told what to do by any country or state. He also taught that the Sacraments and Ministry of the Church come from Jesus Christ and not from any other source.