Neither Archaic Nor Obsolete: The Language of Common Prayer and Public Worship

Description

This 2003 monograph from Anglican Clergymen Peter Toon and Louis R. Tarsitano explores and critiques the development of English liturgical language over the centuries, arguing for a reevaluation of the use of older forms of English public worship.

From the description:

“What was current English in the 1550s was old-fashioned in the 1950s and had to be replaced, so the traditional ‘Thou’ of prayer naturally gave way to ‘You.’ This irenic book provides ample evidence against this common explanation, as well as demonstrates how much further than the second-person pronouns the changes went… Readers may be surprised to learn how little the displacement of this style had to do with the natural development of a living language, and how much to do with the cultural revolution of the 1960s.”