Peter Toon’s Last Days

Even before I started seminary studies, it was clear that Peter Toon was one of the leading (if not THE leading) liturgical theologians in the Anglican church of the late 20th century. At seminary, I learned that all his many works are available for free download at the New Scriptorium website.

Toon died in 2009. But last month the blogger at Wannabe Anglican reported on a sermon about Toon at Pusey House, Oxford. The guest preacher was Fr. Tony Noble, who administered last rites to Toon. At the time, Noble was the rector of what was then the most Anglo-Catholic parish in the Diocese of San Diego — All Saints San Diego — which was where many of the local A-C priests did their curacy.

Toon was a theologically conservative evangelical, so not an Anglo-Catholic by any means. For him, the 1662 was the pinnacle of the BCP — which is why he was the first to do a modern language version of this, the all-time bestselling prayer book. For Toon and others,  the American (or English) 1928 would be a little too Anglo-Catholic.

Noble begins his story as follows:

I first met Peter Toon about 12 years ago, when I was Rector of All Saints, San Diego. I knew of him as an evangelical scholar, writer & defender of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

It was a Saturday night & my phone rang. The voice said, “Is that Fr Noble?”. I replied, Yes. “I understand that you use Rite 1 with catholic additions.........how close to the Prayer Book are your Services?”, he asked. I said that the 8 am Mass was mostly from the Prayer Book.

Next morning Peter & his wife, Vita, attended the 8 am Mass. he introduced himself & I felt quite honoured that such a notable evangelical had attended my church. They continued to attend faithfully every Sunday. Thus began a pastoral relationship which became a friendship.

In addition to the insight into this influential theologian and his final days, it also touches on the nuances of the differing liturgical preferences with Anglicanism. These nuances of preferences (or beliefs) go beyond the more familiar dimensions, which are usually thought of modern vs. traditional theology, and contemporary vs.  Elizabethan language. In some ways, they were the disputes over the BCP (and liturgy and worship) that were the main tension in the Anglican church for the first 400 years of the BCP, before the tumult of the last 50 years.