Nonjuror Liturgical Theology

Nonjuror Liturgical Theology refers to the sacramental and liturgical emphases associated with the Anglican Nonjurors, especially their concern to recover features of the 1549 Communion Office and ancient eucharistic practice. On AnglicanWiki, the topic is treated in relation to the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer, whose Communion Office preserves a strong oblation and invocation while remaining within classical Anglican doctrine.

The Nonjurors were not simply ceremonial antiquarians. Their liturgical theology joined episcopal order, patristic appeal, eucharistic reverence, and a high doctrine of the Church's prayer. At the same time, their claims must be read historically and carefully: classical Anglican theology receives the sacraments under Scripture, the Creeds, the Prayer Book, and the Articles, and it distinguishes eucharistic sacrifice from any repetition of Christ's once-for-all sacrifice.

Historical Background

After the Revolution of 1688, the Nonjurors refused the oaths to William and Mary because they regarded their existing allegiance to James II as binding. Their separation from the established Church of England produced a small but theologically energetic body of bishops, priests, and lay divines.

Their liturgical debates centered especially on the so-called "Usages": the mixed chalice, prayer for the faithful departed, invocation of the Holy Ghost upon the eucharistic elements, and an oblationary prayer drawn from the first Edwardine Prayer Book of 1549. Jeremy Collier, Thomas Brett, Archibald Campbell, and Thomas Deacon were among those associated with the Usager position.

The Usages

The Usages were defended as primitive, not as Roman additions. Collier's Reasons for Restoring Some Prayers and Directions framed the argument as a return to the first English Reformed Liturgy and to the worship of the early Church.

The Third Passage to be Restor'd, is the Prayer for the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Sacramental Elements.

For the Nonjurors, the invocation was not a denial of Christ's institution. It was a prayer that the Father would effectually bless what Christ had appointed. Their interest in the 1549 rite therefore anticipated later Anglican discussions of epiclesis and helped shape Scottish and American eucharistic theology.

Prayer Book Texts

The 1928 American Communion Office contains language congenial to Nonjuror concerns, especially in its oblation and invocation. Its eucharistic prayer remembers Christ's passion, resurrection, and ascension before God, and asks that the communicants may receive the sacrament fruitfully.

WHEREFORE O Lord and heavenly Father, according to the institution of thy dearly beloved Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, we, thy humble servants, do celebrate and make here before thy Divine Majesty, with these thy holy gifts, which we now offer unto thee, the memorial thy Son hath commanded us to make.

AND we most humbly beseech thee, O merciful Father, to hear us; and, of thy almighty goodness, vouchsafe to bless and sanctify, with thy Word and Holy Spirit, these thy gifts and creatures of bread and wine.

These clauses show why the American rite is often discussed alongside the Scottish Communion Office and the Nonjuror tradition. The prayer is not identical with the 1718 Nonjuror office, but it shares the same concern that eucharistic remembrance, offering, and invocation belong within the Church's great thanksgiving.

Scripture and Doctrine

The biblical ground for this theology is the New Testament's language of communion, remembrance, thanksgiving, and participation. The Eucharist is not a new sacrifice added to Calvary; it is the sacramental memorial of the one sacrifice of Christ, received by faith and offered as praise and thanksgiving.

For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

The Articles of Religion guard this doctrine by describing sacraments as effectual signs of grace while rejecting any notion that the priest repeats Christ's sacrifice.

Sacraments ordained of Christ be not only badges or tokens of Christian men's profession, but rather they be certain sure witnesses, and effectual signs of grace, and God's good will towards us.

Theological Interpretation

From a classical Anglican and Reformed Episcopal perspective, Nonjuror liturgical theology is most safely received as a historical witness to reverent worship and sacramental seriousness, not as an independent doctrinal authority. Scripture and the Anglican formularies remain the controlling rule. The eucharistic oblation is therefore a memorial and thanksgiving grounded in Christ's one oblation once offered, not a propitiatory repetition.

High Church and Tractarian readers have often valued the Nonjurors for their recovery of patristic and Eastern liturgical patterns. Their interest in the epiclesis, the altar, and the visible unity of the Church helped later Anglicans speak more fully about catholic continuity without abandoning the Prayer Book.

The Nonjuror stream also shows why Anglican liturgical history cannot be reduced to a simple Evangelical-versus-Catholic polarity. Their theology was ancient, episcopal, and sacramental, yet it continued to appeal to the English Reformation and to the early Prayer Books rather than to late medieval accretions.

Relation to the 1928 BCP

The 1928 BCP receives this inheritance indirectly. Its Communion Office descends through the Scottish and American eucharistic tradition, where oblation and invocation were retained more explicitly than in the 1662 English rite. For catechesis, this means the 1928 rite should be read with three balances in view:

• Christ's sacrifice is full, perfect, sufficient, and once offered.
• The Church offers a memorial sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.
• The communicants receive Christ sacramentally by faith, through the appointed signs of bread and wine.

This gives the 1928 rite both Reformation clarity and catholic fullness. It can be interpreted faithfully within the REC while still acknowledging why High Church, Scottish, Nonjuror, and traditional Anglican Catholic readers have found its eucharistic prayer especially rich.

Use in Worship and Teaching

Teachers should introduce Nonjuror liturgical theology historically rather than polemically. It helps explain why the 1928 BCP's Holy Communion rite includes an oblation, an invocation of the Word and Holy Spirit, and language of sacramental participation. It also helps clergy and catechists distinguish Anglican eucharistic sacrifice from Roman propitiatory sacrifice as rejected in the Articles.

In parish teaching, this page should be paired with direct study of the Prayer of Consecration (1928 BCP), Holy Communion (1928 BCP), Scottish Communion Office and the American Prayer Book, and Eucharistic Sacrifice in Anglican Theology.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
• Prayer of Consecration (1928 BCP)
• Scottish Communion Office and the American Prayer Book
• The Nonjurors and Anglican Liturgy
• Eucharistic Sacrifice in Anglican Theology
• Thirty-Nine Articles

External Links

• Resources on the Nonjurors, Project Canterbury
• Jeremy Collier, Reasons for Restoring Some Prayers and Directions
• The 1928 Book of Common Prayer