Civil War, Communal Guilt and Reconciliation in England: The Book of Common Prayer of 1662

The bloody English civil war left the country divided and traumatized. After the Restoration, the Anglican Church vigorously asserted its property, doctrines, and liturgy, and dealt harshly with non-conformists. Yet, paradoxically, when political and institutional settlements were being made in 1661, John Cosin, Bishop of Durham, and others had showed a sensitive understanding of continuing civil war antagonism nationally and locally, and of how civic healing required more than political and financial solutions. Their 'Durham Book', used to revise the Book of Common Prayer of 1662, emphasized communal guilt and healing, making Anglican liturgy an instrument for national reconciliation at a parish level.