Calvin and the Worship of the Church of England in the Sixteenth Century

Author: 
Bryan D Spinks

Cranmer's influences had been Medieval and Reneaissance Catholic and Lutheran rather than Reformed. The Sarum rite was a major source. In the 1552 revision of the Book of Common Prayer, there was Reformed influence but not from Calvin directly but was rather a 'Calvinist consensus', the theological position of most C of E divines prior to early seventeenth century. Attempts to have the Genevan service book adopted in England, however, failed. A move away from having a set liturgy resulted in the Westminster Directory.

Reference: 
Volume 45 2009/10, p20

Bryan Spinks, is a clergyman of the Church of England. From 1980 to 1998 he was a College Chaplain and Lecturer in Cambridge and was President of the Church Service Society from 1993 to 1995. Since 1998 he has been Professor of Liturgical Studies and the Yale University Divinity School. With Professor Iain Torrance he edits the Scottish Journal of Theology. His recent publication, Liturgy in the Age of Reason is review in this issue.