Volume 21 Autumn 1989

Editorial

The Editor

The editor reflects on the 'catholic tradition' in Church of Scotland worship and argues that the Book of Common Order should be in the hands, not just of all ministers, but all Sunday worshippers.

The Institution Narrative, Eucharistic Prayers, and the Anglican Liturgical Tradition

Bryan Spinks

The anaphora of successive editions of the Book of Common Prayer is supplicatory rather than eucharistic.The belief among many Anglicans that the Institution was consecratory, not shared by Cranmer. The anaphora in the Apostolic Tradition and the first appearance there of the Institution, a direct influence on Rite A. However, there is need to acknowledge that there was a great variety of usage in earlier liturgies and thus counter Anglican fundamentalism. It would also be ecumenically helpful since some contemporary usages, from their traditions, keep the Institution separate (Lutheranism not connected with the Prayer but a separate, sung, declaration of the Gospel) and not within the Great Prayer seen as the 'classic shape'. Flexibility is not absent – e.g. in the Canadian adoption of Syro-Byzantine use where Narrative is extension of thanksgiving, and making use of an epiklesis, but more flexibility still would be desirable.

Our Liturgical Traditions

Rev Charles Robertson

Paper given at an in-service course on 'New Forms of Worship and Praise' for ministers at Carberry Tower, 3rd May 1989. The image of the 'layers' of Scotch Broth given to suggest the rich variety of Scottish worship over the centuries. Some features are explored. There is the legal (quoting from Cox's Practice and Procedure), the status of the Book of Common Order. Then the different books, when the Westminster Directory and successive Common Orders are compared. Worship has always been 'evangelical' but in the sense of worship reflecting the evangel, making the Word more eloquent. Discussed is the Calendar, daily public worship, the importance of the Word in worship and sacrament and in prayer. Worship has also always been liturgical; Common Order and its status at the Reformation and after. Worship has also been always catholic; the relationship of the Reformed orders with classic liturgy; the real presence; the form of absolution; other examples given.

Concerning Dr James Cooper

Peter Davidson

An extended reflection on the life of James Cooper (d.1922), minister of the East Church, Aberdeen, founder of the Aberdeen Ecclesiological Society, Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Glasgow, and Moderator of the General Assembly in 1917. His reforms in the liturgy, life and sanctuaries of the church and how this brought him into conflict with the authorities.