Editing Book of Common Prayer (section)

===1549 prayer book===
{{Main|Book of Common Prayer (1549)}}
[[File:Thomas Cranmer by Gerlach Flicke.jpg|right|thumb|[[Thomas Cranmer]] (1489–1556), editor and co-author of the first and second Books of Common Prayer]]

Only after Henry VIII's death and the accession of Edward VI in 1547 could revision of prayer books proceed faster.{{Sfn|Jeanes|2006|p=23}} Despite conservative opposition, Parliament passed the [[Act of Uniformity 1549|Act of Uniformity]] on 21 January 1549, and the newly authorised ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) was required to be in use by [[Whitsunday]] (Pentecost), 9 June.{{Sfn|Jeanes|2006|p=23}} Cranmer is "credited [with] the overall job of editorship and the overarching structure of the book,"{{Sfn|MacCulloch|1996|p=417}} though he borrowed and adapted material from other sources.{{Sfn|Jeanes|2006|p=27}}

The prayer book had provisions for the daily offices (Morning and Evening Prayer), scripture readings for Sundays and holy days, and services for [[Eucharist|Communion]], public [[baptism]], [[confirmation]], [[matrimony]], [[Anointing of the sick|visitation of the sick]], burial, [[Churching of women|purification of women]] upon childbirth, and [[Ash Wednesday]]. An [[wikt:ordinal#Noun|ordinal]] for [[ordination]] services of [[bishop]]s, [[priest]]s, and [[deacon]]s was added in 1550.{{Sfn|Gibson|1910}}{{Sfn|Jeanes|2006|p=26}} There was also a [[Liturgical year|calendar]] and [[lectionary]], which meant a Bible and a [[Psalter]] were the only other books a priest required.{{Sfn|Jeanes|2006|p=26}}

The BCP represented a "major theological shift" in England towards Protestantism.{{Sfn|Jeanes|2006|p=26}} Cranmer's doctrinal concerns can be seen in the systematic amendment of source material to remove any idea that merit contributes to salvation.{{Sfn|MacCulloch|1996|p=418}} The doctrines of [[justification by faith]] and [[predestination]] are central to Cranmer's theology. These doctrines are implicit throughout the prayer book and had important implications for his understanding of the [[sacrament]]s. Cranmer believed that someone who was not one of God's [[Unconditional election|elect]] received only the outward form of the sacrament (washing in baptism or eating bread in Communion), not actual [[Grace in Christianity|grace]], with only the elect receiving the sacramental sign and the grace. Cranmer held the position that faith, a gift given only to the elect, united the outward sign of sacrament and its inward grace, with only the unity of the two making the sacrament effective. This position was in agreement with the Reformed churches but in opposition to Roman Catholic and Lutheran views.{{Sfn|Jeanes|2006|p=30}}

As a compromise with conservatives, the word ''Mass'' was kept, with the service titled "The Supper of the Lord and the Holy Communion, commonly called the Mass".{{Sfn|MacCulloch|1996|p=412}} The service also preserved much of the Mass's mediaeval structure&nbsp;– [[Altar in the Catholic Church|stone altars]] remained, the clergy wore traditional [[vestment]]s, much of the service was sung, and the priest was instructed to put the communion wafer into communicants' mouths instead of in their hands.{{Sfn|Jeanes|2006|p=31}}{{Sfn|Moorman|1983|p=26}} Nevertheless, the first BCP was a "radical" departure from traditional worship in that it "eliminated almost everything that had till then been central to lay Eucharistic piety".{{Sfn|Duffy|2005|pp=464–466}}

A priority for Protestants was to replace the Roman Catholic teaching that the [[Eucharist in the Catholic Church#Sacrifice|Mass was a sacrifice]] to God ("the very same sacrifice as that of the cross") with the Protestant teaching that it was a service of thanksgiving and spiritual communion with Christ.{{Sfn|Jeanes|2006|p=28}}{{Sfn|Moorman|1983|p=27}} Cranmer's intention was to suppress Catholic notions of sacrifice and [[transubstantiation]] in the Mass.{{Sfn|MacCulloch|1996|p=412}} To stress this, there was no [[Elevation (liturgy)|elevation of the consecrated bread and wine]], and [[eucharistic adoration]] was prohibited. The elevation had been the central moment of the mediaeval Mass, attached as it was to the idea of [[real presence]].{{Sfn|Marshall|2017|p=324}}{{Sfn|MacCulloch|1996|p=413}} Cranmer's eucharistic theology was close to the Calvinist [[Lord's Supper in Reformed theology|spiritual presence view]], and can be described as [[Receptionism]] and Virtualism: the real presence of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.{{sfn|Jones|Wainwright|Yarnold|Bradshaw|1992|p=36}}{{Sfn|MacCulloch|1996|p=392}} The words of administration in the 1549 rite are deliberately ambiguous; they can be understood as identifying the bread with the body of Christ or (following Cranmer's theology) as a prayer that the communicant might spiritually receive the body of Christ by faith.{{Sfn|Jeanes|2006|p=32}}

Many of the other services were little changed. Cranmer based his baptism service on [[Martin Luther]]'s service, a simplification of the long and complex mediaeval rite. Like communion, the baptism service maintained a traditional form.{{Sfn|Jeanes|2006|p=33–34}} The [[confirmation]] and marriage services followed the Sarum rite.{{Sfn|Marshall|2017|pp=324–325}} There are also remnants of prayer for the dead and the [[Requiem|Requiem Mass]], such as the provision for celebrating holy communion at a funeral.{{Sfn|Marshall|2017|p=325}} Cranmer's work of simplification and revision was also applied to the Daily Offices, which were reduced to [[Morning Prayer (Anglican)|Morning]] and [[Evening Prayer (Anglican)|Evening Prayer]]. Cranmer hoped these would also serve as a [[Book of Hours|daily form of prayer]] to be used by the laity, thus replacing both the late mediaeval lay observation of the Latin [[Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary|Hours of the Virgin]] and its English-language equivalent [[primer (prayer book)|primers]].{{Sfn|Procter|Frere|1965|p=27}}