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Frequently Asked Questions

Concerning the Contents

Why is there no Catechism?
Quite simply, the programmer ran out of time, and hasn't found the time to update this yet.
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Why are there no "Documents of the Church?"
Quite simply, the programmer ran out of time, and hasn't found the time to update this yet.
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Why are the tables for finding Easter not included?
The tables for finding Easter are not included in this online version, as the background programming takes care of this for you. The dates for all major Feast days are calculated on the server before displaying the proper Lectionary and Daily Office readings.

For those of you more curious, the algorithm used to find the date of Easter comes from an algorithm by Dr. Heiner Lichtenberg, the details of which can be found at: http://www.ptb.de/de/org/4/44/441/oste.htm (article is in German). All other days are calculated around both Easter and Christmas as the anchor points on the calendar.
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I've noticed typos, or just want to give feedback. How can I do so?
At the bottom of every page is a link to the feedback page to report typos or textual errors, or just to give feedback. Feedback is answered every other Friday of the month.
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Why is there a copyright at the bottom of the page?
Obviously, the copyright for the Book of Common Prayer does not belong to this site. The Book of Common Prayer has always been released into the Public Domain as a gift to those outside the Anglican Communion, and so this copyright merely protects the user interface, the programming that drives the integrated Daily Office and Lectionary pages, and any other details that make this site unique from other online representations of the Book of Common Prayer.

All Bible versions used on this site are in the public domain, or copyrighted, yet freely released to the public for general use; or, in the case of the New King James Version, follows the guidelines set forth by its publisher.
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Can you make "X" translation of the Bible available?
Getting a Bible Version up on the BCP requires a bit of doing. Either the full text of a particular version needs to be available for a free download, or one needs to be created. As some of the translations can be purchased, you may consider purchasing the text version and donating it to the BCP for other users to use. Alternatively, you can donate your time to processing a copy of your favorite translation for addition to the BCP (approx. 40-80hrs of your free time). However, if you can find several people willing to volunteer their time for one book, or if you simply want to volunteer to format one book for inclusion into the database, please contact me. Currently, I have an NRSV text that needs to be formatted; feel free to volunteer; when it is completed, the whole text will be added to the site.

The most commonly requested translations are Today's English Version, The New International Version and the New Revised Standard Version.
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Technical Aspects

How does the Online BCP operate?
This program operates using two main tools: the calculations of the Holy Days (and the ID's associated with those days), and a database that contains reading lists, collects, prefaces, and several versions of the Bible. Each ID has a particular collect, preface and various Bible readings associated with it. When a particular date is viewed, the appropriate prayers, prefaces, and canticles are pulled from the database matching that ID. The Bible readings for an ID are a list of items that appear in any of the following forms: Titus 2:1-11, John 1:1-18 && Matthew 24:1-5, and John 1:1-18 or John 1:1-12. This textual representation of a reading is then parsed into the appropriate details (Book: John; Chapter 1; Verses 1-18, etc.) and those things are added to a query that can pull the appropriate reading from the Bible database contained on the site and inserted into the web page at the appropriate place. If you want more technical details, please contact me.
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I've set my default Bible version, but it won't seem to stick.
You may have your browser set to refuse cookies. Or, you may perhaps be viewing this site in a frameset (a window within a window) on another site. If this is the case, cookies are often disabled for all but the representing site (in this case, the site with the framed windows). If your address bar states anything other than http://www.bookofcommonprayer.net, you may be in a frameset which can interfere with your ability to use cookies.
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It's Thursday, but the Daily Office page shows it as Friday. What's going on?
The programming that performs the calculations to figure out the days of the year, and where they fit into the Church Calendar, is dependent upon the server that this site is housed on. This server sits in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, which means that for those on the West Coast, the Daily Office switches to the next day 3 hours before midnight. For those halfway across the globe, the Daily Office is off by 12 hours.

You can set the difference in times from your local time to the server time by entering the information on this page.
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Miscellaneous

How do I go to the mobile friendly version?
Simply point your mobile device to http://m1.bookofcommonprayer.net.
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Why do you not have "X" programming available?
And when will you?
This site is offered for free and it takes time to build. This site is offered as a free ministry to provide people with a way to do the Daily Office, and to browse the rich heritage of the Book of Common Prayer. However, I also needs to work in order to make a living. As a result, this site takes last priority in the grand scheme of things; programming happens on a free-time basis.

I keep a log of all items people have requested, and make attempts to go down the list as I have time. So if you have a request for additional features, please send some feedback, and the feature will be added to the list. It may take awhile, but if it's feasible, the feature will eventually show up.

If you have found this site useful, and would like to see a particular programming tool, consider buying me a cup of coffee; it helps fuel me.
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