Normally it is the purpose of this blog to write about liturgy, music, prayer, and the Scriptures to help elucidate the purpose and meaning of Anglican worship.  Occasionally, though, it is helpful to point to other related topics that inform one’s understanding of liturgy and worship in some other context.  So today I’m offering a round-up of recent articles from The North American Anglican which should be of value to anyone wishing to walk deeper in the Anglican tradition.

The Ornaments Rubric is a paragraph near the beginning of the 1662 Prayer Book authorizing a particular approach to vestments for Anglican ministers.  This article tells some of the story of its development and where Classical Anglicanism ended up: https://northamanglican.com/the-strange-story-of-the-ornaments-rubric/

Further articles on the Ornaments Rubric were written, and another one popped up the other day, giving another angle of interpretation: https://northamanglican.com/the-ornaments-rubric-again-a-friendly-critique-of-recent-commentary/

That article ends with a common accusatory assumption about the 18th century – that the 1700’s was largely characterized by a decline in religion.  This article gives us a glimpse of how inaccurate that assumption is, and why it matters: https://northamanglican.com/sober-delight-and-rational-exaltation-why-18th-century-anglicanism-matters/

Now we step forward to the 19th century.  It is a common accusation among our lowchurchmen that the Oxford Movement opened the floodgates to all manner of liberalizations and rebellions against established church authority.  This article argues that such an accusation is a fallacy, and appeals for cooperation between our high and low parties: https://northamanglican.com/did-the-oxford-movement-ruin-everything/

Today we have a rather hostile culture toward traditional Christianity.  Celebrating our Anglican inheritance, and the beauty it enshrines, is a point made in this article: https://northamanglican.com/the-beauty-of-holiness/

Now for a rather more direct article about liturgy.  One of the big scholarly debates of the past 50 years or so is the validity of the “Liturgical Renewal” of the 1960’s & 70’s, inspired largely by the scholarship of Gregory Dix, who coined the term “the shape of the liturgy.”  The novus ordo in the Roman Church and the “Rite II” materials in the 1979 Prayer Book, and carried over into the 2019 Prayer Book, are heavily influenced by this modernist 20th century mentality.  There has been a lot of push-back against Dix in recent times, including accusations that he over-stated or even falsified his historical evidence.  Rather than a whole rejection of Dix’s work, however, this article calls for a sober use of the good among his school of thought: https://northamanglican.com/the-shape-fallacy-fallacy/

And last of all, for those who are tempted today by the Roman Church: https://northamanglican.com/a-dissuasive-from-popery/