The development of eucharistic liturgies in the Anglican Church of Australia: Part 1 - a case study in multiformity up to 1995

This article examines the multiformity of eucharistic theology in the development of eucharistic liturgies in the Anglican Church of Australia up to the year 1995, noting the use of both a realist and nominalist theology of the Eucharist in these liturgies. The year 1995 was the year Australia’s latest Anglican prayer book, A Prayer Book for Australia, was published and so marks an important point in the sequence of liturgical development in Australia. A second article will examine developments after 1995 to the present. This article moves from considering the almost exclusive use of the eucharistic liturgy in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer in the first half of the twentieth century through to the period of early liturgical experimentation in Australia, both national and diocesan. It considers the publication of various draft eucharistic liturgies by the national church beginning in 1966 and under the authority of the Constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia. Liturgies considered include those from other provinces of the Anglican Communion which were used experimentally in Australia and those developed and used by the Anglican Church of Australia. The publication of the first national Australian prayer book, An Australian Prayer Book, in 1978 represented a significant step in the development of eucharistic liturgies and these are considered in detail. The multiformity of eucharistic theology in the liturgies of that prayer book is considered and acknowledged as an inherent characteristic of the development of eucharistic liturgies in the Anglican Church of Australia. Specific eucharistic liturgies developed and used by particular dioceses in the period just before 1995 are also considered.