I'm enrolling in RCIA this year and your videos have helped me so much in understanding the various books and texts for me to learn more. I really appreciate it!
The only reason I have not obtained the CTS Divine Worship: Daily Office is because I replaced my First Edition Anglican Office Book with this exquisite 2nd Edition. I also own the Anglican Breviary. This book is also beautiful, but harder to use. So, I use the Anglican Office Book for Mattins and Evensong, then use the Anglican Breviary for the Sermons and Hagiography before Compline. Thirdly, I own the 1928 Book of Common Prayer (American) with KJV and Apocrypha (Deuterocanonical Books). The Anglican Office Book has the Coverdale Psalter but not the KJV Psalms. Of course, I also own the RSV2CE Didache Bible, so I have a translation of the Bible with an imprimatur. In High School in the 1970s, I had to use a New American Bible in the Catholic High School I attended..The translation was odd compared to the Douay Rheims we owned, so I prefer the RSV2CE. The KJV I read for beauty. I actually prefer the Greek LXX Old Testament because the Latin Vulgate was a translated from the Greek LXX. Over 60% of the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament are of the LXX. The Hebrew Masoretic Text has differences to the Dead Sea Scrolls Hebrew Scriptures. Thus, I also own the Orthodox Study Bible. However, for my devotions, I use the KJV, though for Bible Study, I use the RSV2CE and The Orthodox Study Bible. That's probably more information than you wanted, but suffice it to say that I really love the Anglican Office Book for Mattins and Evensong.
I'm Catholic and I've found myself to like this edition very much despite the shortcomings of the Authorized Version, which was in fact a pro-Bishop, pro-Monarchist response to the Geneva bible. I used the commonwealth edition of DW:DO for a long time and quite liked it but had to adapt the Calendar quite a bit to fit the traditional calendar. I don't have to do that nearly as often with the Kalendar printed in the Anglican Office Book and when It's missing some of the more "papist" feasts, you can easily adapt with the commons that are printed in it + the content from a good hand missal like the Angelus Press one that contains Vespers for most feasts.
Glad this review is finally here. I had this book as soon as it was shipped, and I must say that it’s the best designed breviary I’ve ever seen. Not only is the layout beautiful to use, the offices themselves are wonderful to pray. However after asking my priest for his thoughts I decided that I should stick to a catholic breviary, which for me means splitting time between the liturgy of the hours and the 1962 monastic office from Farnbourough Abbey. It really is a shame, I wish we could produce books like this… But regardless great review!
You said during your review that you tried, in vain, to find the first edition of the AOB in order to do a side by side review. FYI, the first edition is the Anglican Office Book WITHOUT the Bible in it. I believe you already have it and reviewed it. The major difference between the first and second editions is the inclusion of the entire KJV Bible in the second. The typeset is also all new in the second edition, presumably correcting any errors that were in the first edition. The inclusion of so many older and exquisite Office Hymns and Sequences in the second edition also sets it apart from most other breviaries. Have a nice day, and thanks for all your helpful reviews.
Am I right in thinking that a major difference between this and Divine Worship Daily Office (which I use daily and like a lot) is that this has the pre-Vatican II Kalendar of saints whereas the DWDO has the post-Vatican II Kalendar of saints? For many people this can be an important deal breaker.
What I like better about this over Divine Worship:Daily Office is that it uses the old calendar. I am not a fan of the Vatican II festal and sanctoral cycle.
Not being a Roman Catholic, I can't really have a reliable opinion about the orthodoxy of the Authorized Translation, although it is interesting how often Bishop Challoner's revision of the Douay Rheims agress with the AV. What this book offers over the Dkvine Worship Daily Office is a wonderful selection of the traditional office hymns and anthems, and they are all from pre-reformation sources, especially from the Use of Sarum, which was the most widely used form of the Roman Rite used in England. (The same is true of the antiphons.)
