Bible and Common Prayer Book Society
The Bible and Common Prayer Book Society of the Episcopal Church is a non-profit organization founded in 1809 by John Henry Hobart in the Episcopal Diocese of New York;[1] it is independent of but affiliated with the Episcopal Church.[2] It is a 501(c)(3) Public Charity with 2024 assets of $4,261,630. It claimed total revenue of $266,469 in 2024.[3] Its office is in Red Bank, New Jersey.[4] The society's work was discussed frequently in United States periodicals in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.[5]
It has published editions and translations of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer.[6][7][8] It currently makes grants to ministries of the Anglican Communion.[9] In 2025, the organization provided a grant for hymnals in the Dakota language for use in the Episcopal Diocese of South Dakota.[10] It has also collaborated with Church Publishing to provide liturgical materials online.[11] In the 1980s, the society funded the French translation of the then-new 1979 Book of Common Prayer.[12]
Daniel Berkeley Updike's Merrymount Press printed the Bible and Common Prayer Book Society's Commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the Book of Common Prayer.[13]
The Bible and Common Prayer Book Society is similar in history and activities to local organizations such as the Margaret Coffin Prayer Book Society in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts (founded 1855)[14] and the Bishop White Prayer Book Society in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania (founded 1834).[15] It is a separate organization from the similarly named Prayer Book Society of the USA, founded to preserve the 1928 edition of the Book of Common Prayer and to promote study of its predecessors.
Notable officers and managers
- Cornelius Roosevelt Duffie, first rector of St. Thomas Church, New York[16]
- David H. Greer, Bishop of New York, 1908 to 1919
- John Henry Hobart
- William T. Manning, Rector of Trinity Church, New York (1908–1921), Bishop of New York (1921–1946)
- Richard Beamon Martin, Suffragan Bishop of Long Island
- Rodney R. Michel, Suffragan Bishop of Long Island (1997–2007), Assisting Bishop of Georgia (2007–2008) and Assisting Bishop of Pennsylvania (2009–2012)
- Benjamin Moore, second Episcopal bishop of New York and fifth President of Columbia University
- Richard Channing Moore, second Bishop of Virginia
- Samuel Provoost, first chaplain of the United States Senate, first bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York
Board
- Mr. Stephen Storen, President[17]
- The Rev. Jacob A. Smith, Vice President; Rector of Calvary-St. George's Parish
- Neva Rae Fox, Secretary
- Anne Bardol, Treasurer
- Thomas K. Chu, Esq.
- John E. Colón, Baruch College
- The Rev. Deacon Paul S. Kahn, St. Ignatius of Antioch Church (New York City)
- Richard J. Mammana
- The Rev. Dr. Ruth A. Meyers, chair of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music (2009–2015)
- The Right Rev. Allen K. Shin; Suffragan Bishop of New York
- Bro. James E. Teets, BSG
Notable editions
- 1789 U. S. Book of Common Prayer[18]
- The 1871 Standard[19]
- (German) Bischofs-Agende der Protestantisch-Bischöflichen Kirche in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika: Enthaltend den Ritus für die Weihe von Bischöfen, Priestern und Diakonen, mit Litanei und Communion; die Form der Kirch-Weihung, das Amt der Installation und die heilige Confirmations-Handlung; nebst den Religions-Artikeln (1880)[20]
- Service Book in the Dialect of the Qlīyukuwhūtana Indians (1908)[21]
- (Ojibwe) Iu wejibue̲wisi̲ mamawi anamiawini mazinaigun: tibishko eji abajito̲ ima shaganoshshi anamiawini̲ gaye tigosi̲ pu̲gi wawenabujiganun iniu nugamowinun au David (1911)
- (Swedish) Den Allmänna Bönboken [...] jämte Psaltaren eller Davids Psalmer (1913)[22]
References
- ^ Hobart, John Henry. "A Pastoral Letter to the Laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New-York, on the Subject of Bible and Common Prayer Book Societies". anglicanhistory.org. Project Canterbury. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
- ^ "Organizations and Networks". episcopalchurch.org. The Episcopal Church. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
- ^ "Financials for Bible and Common Prayer Bk Society of Episcopal Church". candid.org. Candid. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
- ^ Patterson, Mike. "Society Donates Bibles and Prayer Books for Nearly 200 Years". livingchurch.org. The Living Church Foundation. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
- ^ ""Bible and Common Prayer Book Society"". GoogleBooks. Google. Retrieved 25 February 2026.
- ^ Wohlers, Charles. "1789 U. S. Book of Common Prayer". justus.anglican.org. Society of Archbishop Justus. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
- ^ "The Book of common prayer (1865)". archive.org. Internet Archive. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
- ^ Barker, Henry. "English Bible Versions". cambridge.org. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
- ^ "Practical Training / Liturgy". episcopaldeacons.org. Association for Episcopal Deacons. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
- ^ Fox, Neva Rae. "Prayer Book Society Renews Dakota Hymnal". livingchurch.org. The Living Church Foundation. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
- ^ "Bible and Common Prayer Book Society collaborates with Church Publishing Incorporated to provide resources to Spread the Gospel to worshipping communities". episcopalnewsservice.org. Episcopal News Service. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
- ^ "French Prayer Book Project Under Way". episcopalarchives.org. Episcopal Archives. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
- ^ Hart, Samuel. "The Book of Common Prayer: The Three Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of Its Publication in English". books.google.com. Google. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
- ^ "Margaret Coffin Prayer Book Society". diomass.org. Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. Retrieved 25 February 2026.
- ^ Mammana, Richard; Krasulski, Michael. "The Bishop White Prayer Book Society of Philadelphia: A Bibliography in Progress, with the Constitutions and By-Laws of 1834, 1853, and Charter of 1875". archive.org. Internet Archive. Retrieved 25 February 2026.
- ^ "Cornelius Roosevelt Duffie". anglicanhistory.org. Project Canterbury. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
- ^ "Our Leadership". biblesandprayerbooks.org. Bible and Common Prayer Book Society. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
- ^ Wohlers, Charles. "1789 U. S. Book of Common Prayer". anglican.org. Society of Archbishop Justus. Retrieved 25 February 2026.
- ^ "The 1871 Standard". anglican.org. Society of Archbishop Justus. Retrieved 25 February 2026.
- ^ "Bischofs-Agende der Protestantisch-Bischöflichen Kirche in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika: Enthaltend den Ritus für die Weihe von Bischöfen, Priestern und Diakonen, mit Litanei und Communion; die Form der Kirch-Weihung, das Amt der Installation und die heilige Confirmations-Handlung; nebst den Religions-Artikeln". mammana.org. Richard Mammana. Retrieved 25 February 2026.
- ^ Wohlers, Chad; Mammana, Richard. "Portions of the Book of Common Prayer in Upper Koyukon (1908)". anglican.org. Society of Archbishop Justus. Retrieved 25 February 2026.
- ^ "den allmanna bonboken". archive.org. Internet Archive. Retrieved 25 February 2026.
Further reading
- First Address of the Bible and Common Prayer Book Society[1] (1808, reprinted 1837)
- Arthur Lowndes, A Century of Achievement: The History of the New York Bible and Common Prayer Book Society (1909)
- Fourteenth Annual Report of the Board of Managers (1829)
- Third Annual Report (1839)
- 107th Annual Report (1915)
External links
- ^ Hobart, John Henry. "First Address of the Bible and Common Prayer Book Society". anglicanhistory.org. Project Canterbury. Retrieved 24 February 2026.