The different years don’t mark high/low distinctions particularly. If you’re in the United States, then probably you saw the 1979 and 1928 BCP’s. The 1979 revision is controversial among conservative American Anglicans, for a lot of the same reasons that the post-VatII liturgical revisions are controversial among Roman Catholics. The 1979 BCP was influenced by much of the same scholarship that shaped the RC liturgical revisions (which also influenced various mainline Protestant denominations). However, in the Episcopal context the new BCP also coincided with the ordination of women, and the two things together precipitated a schism. The “Continuing Anglicans” use the 1928 BCP. The 1979 version contains a “Rite I” which is fairly close to the 1928 liturgy, but even it is not quite the same (in particular, the highly penitential language is toned down).
The 1979 BCP is the official liturgy of the Episcopal Church.
The English situation is a bit different. The official liturgy of the Church of England continues to be the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. (The American Prayer Book tradition is somewhat more Catholic, particularly in its Eucharistic theology and also in the inclusion of prayer for the dead.) A revision was proposed in 1928 (don’t ask me what was in the water in 1928!), but was voted down by Parliament. In the 80s, an “Alternative Service Book” was drawn up, which has now been replaced by the “Book of Common Worship.” These books are not official replacements of the BCP, but in practice they seem to be used much more often than the BCP. They reflect the same “post-Vatican-II” liturgical scholarship as the 1979 American BCP, but allow for much more variation, it seems to me.
As I said, the 1928/1979 division doesn’t really cut across Anglo-Catholic/evangelical lines. Anglo-Catholics are more likely to be liturgically traditionalist and to oppose the ordination of women, so they are heavily represented among the “Continuing Anglicans.” But not all Continuing Anglicans are Anglo-Catholic, and many users of the 1979 BCP continue to call themselves “Anglo-Catholics.”
That being said, there are folks on either side of the spectrum who don’t use the BCP, or at least tamper with it considerably. Many Anglo-Catholics adopted something called the “Anglican Missal” (there is a corresponding Anglican Breviary), which is basically the traditional Roman Mass translated into old-fashioned liturgical English, with some elements from the BCP. Other posters, such as “GKC,” can inform you better on this or on Anglo-Catholicism generally. The use of the “Anglican Missal” seems more common in England than in the U.S. The same is true for the Evangelical equivalent, which is to ignore the Prayer Book and conduct worship services that look a lot like any other Protestant service. Generally there is more liturgical (and theological) uniformity among American Anglicans. The C of E is an extremely broad tent, because it’s the state church and the “default option” for English Christians not in communion with Rome.
Edwin
