About the Project
Congregations in the Episcopal Church use the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and its authorized supplements, but what do they actually do with the script offered by the liturgical books? How is the liturgy performed? This project tries to give at least a partial answer. Read more here [coming soon!]...
The Congregations
Sixteen congregations* across the continental U.S. are being visited: urban, rural, and suburban; English-speaking and Spanish-speaking; Anglo-Catholic, broad church, and evangelical. Some were chosen because of their reputations for excellent liturgy, some on the basis of recommendations by bishops and liturgical scholars, and others because they were representative of some aspect of the church's life. See their case studies here.
Effective Worship
[It's too early to draw definitive conclusions, but when they are ready, they will be linked here!]
Formalities
Please note that all images here are ©2016 and ©2017 James Turrell, All rights reserved (which means, "Downloading and using them without permission is theft"). Audio recordings of music are used under the provisions of "fair use," for the purposes of education and commentary. This website is for educational purposes, and no endorsement of any church, congregation, book, or ecclesiastical dry goods merchant is implied. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and not his employer, church, neighbors, or house cat.
Grateful thanks to the clergy and people of each congregation visited, for their willingness to be studied, for the time taken to answer questions, for the hospitality shown to a wandering academic, and for tolerating the intrusions of a camera and audio recorder.
Funding for this project was provided by the Conant Fund of the Episcopal Church and the University of the South.