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A Historical Survey of Southern African Liturgy: Liturgical Revision from 1908 to 2010
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 January 2017
Abstract
The article surveys liturgical developments in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa from 1908 to 2010. The author uses numerous source documents from several Anglican archives to analyse the experimental and fully authorized liturgies, detailing the theological and sociological shifts which underpinned any significant changes. The author includes several sources which, until this point, have not been considered; particularly in relation to the reception of newer liturgies. These include letters, interviews and newspaper articles. Influences from the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of South India, the Church of England, the Episcopal Church in the USA and the Church of New Zealand all contributed to the authorized rites in the local church. Furthermore, the article shows that local, traditionally disenfranchised voices are now beginning to be included with liturgical transformation.
Keywords
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- Research Article
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- © The Journal of Anglican Studies Trust 2017
Footnotes
1.
Dr Andrew-John Bethke is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of South Africa.
References
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4. Robert Gray was appointed and consecrated the first Bishop of the newly created see of Cape Town in 1847. He arrived in Cape Town on 20 February 1848 to preside over what was then the largest Anglican diocese in the world (the diocese roughly encompassed the whole of the modern Republic of South Africa).
5. The term ‘Tractarian’ is an interchangeable reference for members of the Oxford Movement, so named because of the tracts they published at regular intervals defending the Catholic strand of Anglicanism.
6. England, ‘Tracing Southern African Anglicanism’, p. 22.
7. The Cambridge Camden Society was formed in 1839 in sympathy with the Oxford Movement. In 1845 it changed its name to the Ecclesiological Society. More than the Oxford Movement, it sought to reform the actual performance of worship through architecture, liturgy and music. John Mason Neale was one of the founders of the society.
8. Article X, Provincial Synod 1870, see Botha, Cynthia, ‘Southern Africa’, in C. Hefling and C. Shattuck (eds.), The Oxford Guide to the Book of Common Prayer: A Worldwide Survey (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), pp. 194–201 Google Scholar (197).
9. Botha, ‘Southern Africa’, p. 197.
10. Hinchliff, ‘The Theory and Practice of Prayer Book Revision in South Africa’, p. 89.
11. Hinchliff, ‘The Theory and Practice of Prayer Book Revision in South Africa’, p. 89.
12. Walter Howard Frere (1863–1938) was a co-founder of the Community of the Resurrection in Mirfield and Bishop of Truro (1923–35). He was a respected liturgical scholar throughout the Anglican Communion.
13. Hinchliff, ‘The Theory and Practice of Prayer Book Revision in South Africa’, p. 89.
14. Bazeley was sub-warden at St Paul’s Hostel, later to become one of the residential theological colleges of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. See H.E. Wraige, ‘A Companion to the Alternative Prayer Books of the CPSA and Other Papers’ (unpublished manuscript, c. 1946, Simonstown).
15. J. Bazeley, ‘The Simplicity of Divine Service in the Church of England Compared with the Example of the Church during the First Five Centuries’ (unpublished essay, date unknown, c. 1910–12).
16. Bazeley, ‘The Simplicity of Divine Service’, pp. 47-48.
17. Bazeley, ‘The Simplicity of Divine Service’, p. 61.
18. Peter Hinchliff, covering letter, 11 March 1957, The Gould Collection (College of the Transfiguration library).
19. W.C. Bishop was an English liturgical scholar whose ideas about the Eucharistic Prayer as a series of thanksgivings and the participation of the whole congregation was well before its time.
20. W.C. Bishop, letter to Charles Gould, 20 March 1914. The Gould Collection (College of the Transfiguration library).
21. Percy Dearmer (1867–1936) was an English priest, liturgical scholar and social activist who is best known for his book The Parson’s Handbook and for his work as a hymnologist.
22. Percy Dearmer, letter to Charles Gould, 24 January 1914. The Gould Collection (College of the Transfiguration library).
23. Francis Phelps (1863–1938) studied divinity at Keble College, Oxford, before being ordained in priest in 1888. He immigrated to South Africa in 1909 and was successively warden of St Peter’s home, Archdeacon of Grahamstown, Dean of Grahamstown (1914), Bishop of Grahamstown (1915) and Archbishop of Cape Town (1931).
24. An Alternative Form of the Order for the Administration of the Holy Communion (Grahamstown, 1920), p. 1.
25. An Alternative Form of the Order for the Administration of the Holy Communion, pp. 1-2.
26. An Alternative Form of the Order for the Administration of the Holy Communion, pp. 2-3.
27. An Alternative Form of the Order for the Administration of the Holy Communion, p. 3.
28. An Alternative Form of the Order for the Administration of the Holy Communion, pp. 3-4.
29. An Alternative Form of the Order for the Administration of the Holy Communion, p. 5.
30. An Alternative Form of the Order for the Administration of the Holy Communion, p. 15.
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33. Peter Hinchliff has provided a thorough commentary on the genesis and reception of the early South African Eucharistic Rite. See Hinchliff, Peter, The South African Liturgy: The Story of the Revision of the Rite and its Consecration Prayer (Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 1959)Google Scholar.
34. An Alternative Form of the Occasional Offices of the Church (Grahamstown, 1926), pp. 15-16.
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36. An Alternative Form of the Occasional Offices of the Church, pp. 40-48.
37. Hinchliff, Peter, Memorandum on the History of the South African Eucharistic Liturgy (Anglican Archives AB 907f), p. 1 Google Scholar.
38. ‘Liturgy 1975’, Seek (Johannesburg, July 1975), p. 4.
39. Hinchliff, The South African Rite and the 1928 Prayer Book, p. 5.
40. Phillips, F.D., Sexby, A. J. and Seymour, W. J., ‘Monograph: Setting forth Reasons for not Accepting the South African Alternative Prayer Book as being Consistent with the Spirit and Teaching of the Book of Common Prayer’ (unpublished essay, Johannesburg, 1963)Google Scholar.
41. The prayer of oblation begins, ‘…we offer ourselves to thee…’.
42. Phillips et al., ‘Setting forth Reasons’, p. 1.
43. Phillips et al., ‘Setting forth Reasons’, p. 2.
44. Phillips et al., ‘Setting forth Reasons’, p. 3.
45. See Bazeley, ‘The Simplicity of Divine Service’, p. 34.
46. They refer directly to the homily on prayer (mentioned in article 35), ‘…neither let us dream any more that the souls of the dead are anything at all holpen by our prayers…’. Phillips et al., ‘Setting forth Reasons’, p. 4.
47. Phillips et al., ‘Setting forth Reasons’, p. 4.
48. Phillips et al., ‘Setting forth Reasons’, p. 5.
49. There were two South Africans represented on the sub-committee: G.P.L. Turner (St Helena) and J. Hunter (George). See The Lambeth Conference 1958: The Encyclical Letter from the Bishops together with the Resolutions and Reports (London: SPCK, 1958), p. 62.
50. See The Lambeth Conference 1958: The Encyclical Letter, pp. 78-98.
51. See resolutions 73–80 of the Lambeth Conference 1958. ‘The Lambeth Conference: Resolutions Archive from 1958’, available at: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/127740/1958 (accessed 14 November 2016).
52. Introduction to A Liturgy for Africa (London: SPCK, 1964).
53. See Buchanan, Colin, Modern Anglican Liturgies 1958–1968 (London: Oxford University Press, 1968), pp. 48–56 Google Scholar.
54. Fenwick, J. and Spinks, B., Worship in Transition: The Twentieth Century Liturgical Movement (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1995), p. 71 Google Scholar.
55. Fenwick and Spinks, Worship in Transition, pp. 71-72.
56. Buchanan, Modern Anglican Liturgies 1958–1968, pp. 51-55.
57. Introduction to A Liturgy for Africa.
58. Kelly, L.E., ‘“Liturgy 1975” – A Critical Appraisal of the New Liturgical Form used in the Church of the Province of Southern Africa’, Thesis (MTh), University of South Africa, 1984, p. 32 Google Scholar.
59. Kelly, ‘“Liturgy 1975”’, p. 32.
60. Buchanan, Modern Anglican Liturgies 1958–1968, p. 56.
61. Kelly, ‘“Liturgy 1975”’, p. 40.
62. Proposals for the Revision of the Rites of Baptism and Confirmation (Cape Town: Liturgical Committee of the Church of the Province of South Africa, 1967).
63. Kelly, ‘“Liturgy 1975”’, p. 41.
64. Kelly, ‘“Liturgy 1975”’, p. 45.
65. These questionnaires were designed by H.L. Watts, a statistics expert. One was sent to all clergy (asking specifically about the combined synaxis and office). The other was sent to specific groups by diocesan bishops. The results were collated and analysed by E. Higgins. See Seymour, W.J., ‘The Church of the Province of South Africa’, in C. Buchanan (ed.), Further Anglican Liturgies 1968–1975 (Nottingham: Alcuin, 1975), pp. 197–202 Google Scholar (198).
66. Seymour, ‘The Church of the Province of South Africa’, p. 199.
67. Kelly, ‘“Liturgy 1975”’, p. 44.
68. Seymour, ‘The Church of the Province of South Africa’, p. 197.
69. The Church of England was also producing experimental liturgies for trial use between the 1960s and 1980s. The Church of England’s Series II was one of these rites. For a detailed history of this rite see Ch. 11 in Jasper, R.C.D., The Development of the Anglican Liturgy 1662–1980 (London: SPCK, 1989)Google Scholar.
70. Jasper, The Development of the Anglican Liturgy, p. 304. A booklet entitled Modern Collects (Johannesburg, 1972) contained all the modern English collects for use with AF (and later Liturgy 1975). The introduction describes the general approach to creating new collects. In numerous cases, collects were completely rewritten rather than simply adapted from the Cranmerian originals. Also interesting is the introduction of ‘thought-lines’ in which each separate thought is given its own line, rather than a continuous stream of text. This allows for easier reading and understanding. See Modern Collects (Johannesburg, 1972), pp. 1-3.
71. Kelly, ‘“Liturgy 1975”’, p. 47.
72. Geoffrey Bacon, letter to chairperson of Liturgical Committee, 4 August 1971 (Anglican Archives AB 948/18).
73. See Centenary Programme and Historical Sketch (Holy Trinity Kalk Bay, 29 September 1974) (Anglican Archives AB 875f).
74. The Church Unity Commission (CUC) developed in response to the ecumenical movement of the twentieth century, particularly fuelled by the necessity to provide a united Christian front against apartheid. As a result the Anglican, Methodist, Congregational and Presbyterian Churches actively began discussing union. In the early 1990s this union became a reality.
75. In 1972 a suggested form of worship, called Sunday Worship (Johannesburg: Church Unity Commission, 1972), was released by the Church Unity Commission of South Africa (an ecumenical collaboration between Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational Churches). At that time full and visible unity between churches was a real expectation and this is clearly reflected in the preface to the Liturgy. The service contained in the book may be either a Service of the Word (ending after the Prayers of the People and a blessing) or a Eucharist. It was notable for including three Eucharistic Prayers, one of which was the ‘Hippolytus’ canon (as it appeared in the new Roman Missal). It is characterized by many various options at each point and, in essence, foreshadows the Lima Liturgy which emerged after the ecumenical consensus forged in Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1982).
76. Michael Nuttall was first Bishop of Pretoria (1975–82) and then Bishop of Natal (1982–2000), Dean of the Province and chairperson of the liturgical committee.
77. Nuttall, Michael, ‘A River Running Through: Liturgical Life and Change’, in J. Suggit and M. Goedhals (eds.) Change and Challenge: Essays Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Arrival of Robert Gray as First Bishop of Cape Town (Johannesburg: CPSA, 1998), pp. 55–62 Google Scholar (57).
78. John Rowland was Rector of St Mary’s, Woodstock (Cape Town) and a prominent member of Southern African liturgical committee. He published a handbook to accompany the Easter Rites of L75 called The Light of Christ. See below.
79. Rowland’s papers can be found at the Anglican Archives AB 1959.
80. The study document includes contemporary theological statements: An Agreed Statement on Eucharistic Doctrine (ARCIC, 1972); A Plan of Union (Church Unity Commission, SA August 1975) and the study documents attached to this ‘plan’; Resumé of the Emerging Ecumenical Consensus on the Eucharist (Faith and Order, WCC, 1971); and An Approach to the Theology of the Sacraments (N. Clarke). See Documentation of the Eucharist (Anglican Archives AB 948/21).
81. A commentary on the provisional liturgy, produced for Provincial Synod 1973, accompanied the Eucharistic rite and the Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer. It defends the new title ‘Eucharist’ by relating it to the biblical accounts in Greek of Jesus’ institution of the rite. See Liturgy 1973 (Johannesburg, 1973), p. 84.
82. Liturgy 1975 (Johannesburg: CPSA, 1975), pp. 128-29.
83. Liturgy 1975, p. 121.
84. Liturgy 1975, pp. 128-36.
85. For a detailed history of the Church of England’s Series III see Chapter 14 in Jasper, The Development of the Anglican Liturgy 1662–1980.
86. Liturgy 1973, pp. 85-86.
87. Liturgy 1973, pp. 86-87.
88. Interestingly, the versicle appears to be a remnant of the antiphon for the Venite or Psalm 134 which has been displaced from the psalm.
89. Liturgy 1975, pp. 153 and 160.
90. Liturgy 1975, p. 155.
91. Liturgy 1975, pp. 157-59 and 164-65.
92. Rowland, John, Liturgy 1975 – Why? (Johannesburg: CPSA, 1975), pp. 29–30 Google Scholar.
93. John Rowland, Liturgy 1975 – Why?, pp. 28-30.
94. Cuming, G.J., A History of Anglican Liturgy (London: St Martin’s Press, 1969), p. 60 Google Scholar.
95. A companion guide book was published soon after the release of Ash Wednesday to Easter (Johannesburg, 1975): J. Rowland, The Light of Christ (Johannesburg: CPSA, 1979). It was republished in 2007. Both Ash Wednesday to Easter and The Light of Christ were proceeded by Services for Ash Wednesday and Holy Week (published by SPCK) for use with SAPB. Interview with Ian Darby (11 February 2011).
96. John Rowland, The Light of Christ, p. 4.
97. Ash Wednesday to Easter, p. ii.
98. Occasional Paper Two: Ash Wednesday to Easter (Johannesburg: CPSA Liturgical Committee: no date).
99. Dlamini, D., Report on Africanisation of the Liturgy (Anglican Archives AB 948)Google Scholar.
100. Dlamini, Report on Africanisation of the Liturgy.
101. Dlamini, Report on Africanisation of the Liturgy.
102. Minutes of the Africanisation of the Liturgy Sub-committee (Anglican Archives AB 948).
103. Dlamini, Report on Africanisation of the Liturgy.
104. See Liturgy 1973, p. 86.
105. Kelly, ‘”Liturgy 1975”, p. 53.
106. Meyers, Ruth A., ‘Rites of Initiation’, in C. Hefling and C. Shattuck (eds.), The Oxford Guide to the Book of Common Prayer (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 484–499 Google Scholar (485).
107. ‘A Report on Christian Initiation: Church of the Province of South Africa’ (Johannesburg: CPSA/SPCK, 1972).
108. ‘Christian Initiation Report 1976’ (Johannesburg: Ecumenical Literature Distribution Trust, 1976).
109. ‘Report of the SAATC on the Theology of Confirmation in Relation to Baptism, both Adult and Infant’ (November 1980, unpublished).
110. Birth and Growth in Christ: Anglican Services of Initiation (London: Collins, 1984).
111. Birth and Growth in Christ, p. 5.
112. Taylor, R., He Took, Blessed, Broke and Gave (Cape Town: CPSA, revised edn, 2010), p. 8 Google Scholar.
113. Taylor, He Took, Blessed, Broke and Gave, p. 71. For a detailed history of the Church of England’s Alternative Service Book 1980, see Chapter 15 of Jasper, The Development of the Anglican Liturgy 1662–1980.
114. Taylor, He Took, Blessed, Broke and Gave, p. 8.
115. African languages do not have gender specific pronouns.
116. Nuttall, ‘A River Running Through’, p. 59.
117. Nuttall, ‘A River Running Through’, p. 60.
118. Praying a Home (Johannesburg: CPSA, 1994) is a compendium of home and family prayers, graces, midday and late night offices, the angelus, the Stations of the Cross and preparation prayers for the Eucharist. While some of the material was locally composed, there is heavy borrowing from the Church of England’s Alternative Service Book 1980, A New Zealand Prayer Book, the Anglican Church of Canada’s The Book of Alternative Services 1985 and E.M. White’s My God and my Glory. While there was a conscious effort on the part of the liturgical committee to eliminate sexist language and the masculinity of God in this little booklet, there are still references to God as Father (but none as Mother), and the overtly masculine Lesser Doxology is left unchanged.
119. Here, for example, critiques on the masculinity of God from feminist theologians will be helpful, see Ringe, Sharon H., ‘When Women Interpret the Bible’, in C.A. Newson and S.H. Ringe (eds.), Women’s Bible Commentary (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, expanded edn, 1998), pp. 1–12 Google Scholar. Also, and more importantly for South Africa, critiques of the vernacular names of God, assigned by missionaries, will be important. See Ntloedibe, Gomang Seratwa, ‘Translating the Divine: The Case of Modimo in the Setswana Bible’, in M.W. Dube (ed.), Other Ways of Reading: African Women and the Bible (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 2001), pp. 78–100 Google Scholar; and Dora R. Mbuwayesango, ‘How Local Divine Powers Were Suppressed: A Case of Mwari of the Shona’, in Dube (ed.), Other Ways of Reading, pp. 63-77.
120. An Anglican Prayer Book 1989 (Johannesburg: HarperCollins, 1989), pp. 794-95.
121. In 1983 Death and Life in Christ: Anglican Funeral Services (Johannesburg: CPSA, 1983) was published by the liturgical committee, and the following year Marriage in Christ (Johannesburg: CPSA, 1984). While based largely on An Alternative Service Book 1980 and the Book of Common Prayer 1979 (ECUSA), the funeral booklet also contains a service for the dedication of a tombstone which is among the unique aspects of church worship in the area.
122. See An Anglican Prayer Book 1989 (Johannesburg: HarperCollins, 1989), pp. 442-43.
123. Usually the traditional creed for baptism is the Apostles’ Creed. However, the Baptismal Creed in APB is: I believe and trust in God the Father, who made the world. I believe and trust in his Son Jesus Christ, who redeemed humankind. I believe and trust in his Holy Spirit, who gives life to the people of God. I believe and trust in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. See An Anglican Prayer Book 1989 (Johannesburg: HarperCollins, 1989), p. 59.
124. The original allegiance questions at the baptism service were created for the 1967 Alternative Services Second Series Baptism and Confirmation. They were updated in 1973 for the Series III Initiation Services and an additional congregational response was added at the conclusion. This form was adopted for APB and the Baptismal Creed was derived directly from it. Ian Darby, personal communication with the author, 11 February 2011.
125. John Suggit is a retired South African Anglican priest, theologian and writer. He served as rector in several parishes in the Diocese of Grahamstown before being appointed Warden of St Paul’s College (now the College of the Transfiguration) from 1965–75. He was appointed to the staff of Rhodes University as Professor of New Testament in 1975, serving there until his retirement in 1992.
126. J. Suggit, The Simplicity of God: God as Trinity (Johannesburg: CPSA, 1993), p. 10.
127. Nuttall, ‘A River Running Through’, p. 57.
128. An Anglican Prayer Book 1989, p. 9.
129. An Anglican Prayer Book 1989, pp. 86-88.
130. See Paterson, Torquil, ‘A Liturgy for Liberation’, in F. England and T. Paterson (eds.), Bounty in Bondage: The Anglican Church in Southern Africa (Johannesburg: Collins, 1989), pp. 53–74 Google Scholar.
131. See Services for Parish Use 1993 (Johannesburg: CPSA, 1993), p. 105.
132. Nuttall, ‘A River Running Through’, p. 61.
133. See Resolutions 22 (Christ and Culture) and 47 (Liturgical Freedom). ‘Lambeth Conference 1988’, available at: http://www.lambethconference.org/resolutions/1988 (accessed 20 October 2010).
134. York Statement, point 6. See Holeton, David (ed.), Liturgical Inculturation in the Anglican Communion: Including the York Statement ‘Down to Earth Worship’ (Nottingham: Grove Books, 1989)Google Scholar.
135. See Gitari, D. (ed.), Anglican Liturgical Inculturation in Africa: The Kanamai Statement ‘African Culture and Anglican Liturgy’ (Nottingham: Grove Books, 1994)Google Scholar.
136. Services for Parish Use 1993 (Johannesburg: CPSA, 1993), pp. 71 and 77.
137. See Unity in Worship (Cape Town: Methodist Publishing House 1996), pp. 1-29.
138. Unity in Worship, pp. 30-48.
139. Unity in Worship, p. 47.
140. Unity in Worship, pp. 10-12.
141. Unity in Worship, pp. 49-72.
142. Unity in Worship, pp. 73-87.
143. The Book of Alternative Services of the Anglican Church of Canada; The Alternative Service Book 1980 from the Church of England; Additional Eucharistic Prayers from the Church of England; and APB are all listed as sources.
144. de Gruchy, J. with de Gruchy, S., The Church Struggle in South Africa: 25th Anniversary Edition (London: CSM, 2004), p. 227 Google Scholar.
145. These include a Eucharistic Prayers for Children, Good Friday, Eastertide and Creation.