A relative of mine would like to be able to read a commentary on the lectionary readings in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Would anyone happen to know if there is such a book currently in print? The closest thing I have found is Melville Scott's The Harmony of the Collects, Epistles and Gospels: Being a Devotional Exposition of the Continuous Teaching of the Church Throughout the Year. But that is not what she is looking for, and was written before the 1928 BCP was published. Any advice would be appreciated!
A prayer book commentary, such as Shepherd's, will touch on them briefly. Shepherd typically identifies what prior sacramentary the reading came from, how and when it has been expanded or truncated, and a basic theme. Scott's book was designed more as a sermon preparation aid. I was given a copy last year by the senior warden at an APA parish I occasionally supply for. They were using the treatise for Sunday school literature, which is not something I personally would care to do, but I have seen much worse programs. It kind of blunts the impact of the sermon to have just bludgeoned the faithful with a six point exposition of the readings in Sunday school.
Father, thanks for your reply. As it happens I do have a copy of the Melville Scott book, given to me by a friend who has since passed on to his heavenly reward. My relative is going to try it out. I guess I will be looking for a copy of the Massey Shepherd book, but as you know it is hard to find and can be expensive. I wonder how hard it would be to get it back in print, and if there would be a market for it? Anyway, thanks again.
The Prayer Book Society had digitized it at some point and had it packaged on a CD with a number of other books on the historical prayer books. That media is not currently available through their little store. You have to think someone still has the files and possibly a master disk somewhere. Shepherd is controversial though. I don't think APA press or ACC press would bother to reprint it because there's a significant population of older guys who rail against Shepherd as being almost single handedly responsible for destroying the common prayer tradition and innovating in the 1979 -which is obviously a severe overreaction if not a total miscarriage of facts. It was a required text for me in seminary and I swallowed hard and paid about $80 for a copy. I do refer to it for one reason or another at least a couple of times a month.
I have heard the same thing about Shepherd's alleged problematic theology, but I suppose in my circles there are more who like his book than don't like it. If I ever come across a good quality copy of the Oxford American Commentary, I might look into a reprinting of the book. But it seems to be rather hard to find a copy for less than several hundred dollars. (!)
http://www.lectionarycentral.com/ Click on a Sunday on this page and you'll see a nice list of commentaries in the left sidebar. I especially recommend Scott and Blunt.
Thanks, Father! That is a very good resource and I will pass it on to my relative. I appreciate this.