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Liturgical Revision

During the twentieth century the Church of England, like other Christian churches, felt the need to produce liturgies that drew on the latest fruits of historical scholarship and at the same time met the pastoral needs of the times.

An attempt to revise The Book of Common Prayer came to an end in 1928, when Parliament rejected the proposals. Most of The 1928 Prayer Book services were eventually authorized for use in public worship in 1966 - some in amended form - as the First Series of Alternative Services.

The 'Series One' Form of Solemnization of Matrimony and Burial Services continue to be authorized for use in public worship.

Although authorization of the other Series One services has subsequently lapsed, use of most (but not all) of the texts is covered by the authorized status of certain Common Worship services.

A period of experimentation with further Alternative Services (Series Two and Three) began in the mid-1960s and found its fruition in the publication of The Alternative Service Book 1980. The Series Three services used contemporary English for the first time.

The ASB was authorized first for ten years and then for a further ten, but from 2000 it was replaced by a new generation of services, under the title Common Worship, which draws together the best of modern liturgy and the tradition of worship stemming from the The Book of Common Prayer.

See also:
G. J. Cuming, A History of Anglican Liturgy (2nd edition: London, 1982)
R. C. D. Jasper, The Development of the Anglican Liturgy 1662-1980 (London, 1989)