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Marjorie Wheeler-Barclay argues that, although the existence and significance of the science of religion has been barely visible to modern scholars of the Victorian period, it was a subject of lively and extensive debate among nineteenth-century readers and audiences. She shows how an earlier generation of scholars in Victorian Britain attempted to arrive at a dispassionate understanding of the psychological and social meanings of religious beliefs and practices—a topic not without contemporary resonance in a time when so many people feel both empowered and threatened by religious passion—and provides the kind of history she feels has been neglected. Wheeler-Barclay examines the lives and work of six scholars: Friedrich Max Müller, Edward B. Tylor, Andrew Lang, William Robertson Smith, James G. Frazer, and Jane Ellen Harrison. She illuminates their attempts to create a scholarly, non-apologetic study of religion and religions that drew upon several different disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, the classics, and Oriental studies, and relied upon contributions from those outside as well as within the universities. This intellectual enterprise—variously known as comparative religion, the history of religions, or the science of religion—was primarily focused on non-Christian religions. Yet in Wheeler-Barclay’s study of the history of this field within the broad contexts of Victorian cultural, intellectual, social, and political history, she traces the links between the emergence of the science of religion to debates about Christianity and to the history of British imperialism, the latter of which made possible the collection of so much of the ethnographic data on which the scholars relied and which legitimized exploration and conquest. Far from promoting an anti-religious or materialistic agenda, the science of religion opened up cultural space for an exploration of religion that was not constricted by the terms of contemporary conflicts over Darwin and the Bible and that made it possible to think in new and more flexible ways about the very definition of religion.
This book is the first one volume history of religious belief and practice in England, Wales and Scotland. It covers the period from Roman times to the present and has been written by twenty-three scholars, all writing accessibly for a wide readership.
First published in 1949, A History of Christianity in England is a kaleidoscopic view of the religious situation in England for readers and students who wish to eventually take it up as a serious study. The author asserts that the influence of the Church and the State in the development of the English national life and character has also led to the growth of a unique English Christianity. English religion appears neither completely Catholic, properly Protestant nor consistently Liberal, rendering itself an enigma. The author believes that the confusion of its various discordant parts can be resolved by situating English Christianity within a historical continuum. This book will be of interest to students of theology, history and Christianity.
During the twentieth century, Britain turned from one of the most deeply religious nations of the world into one of the most secularised nations. This book provides a comprehensive account of religion in British society and culture between 1900 and 2000. It traces how Christian Puritanism and respectability framed the people amidst world wars, economic depressions, and social protest, and how until the 1950s religious revivals fostered mass enthusiasm. It then examines the sudden and dramatic changes seen in the 1960’s and the appearance of religious militancy in the 1980s and 1990s. With a focus on the themes of faith cultures, secularisation, religious militancy and the spiritual revolution of the New Age, this book uses people’s own experiences and the stories of the churches to display the diversity and richness of British religion. Suitable for undergraduate students studying modern British history, church history and sociology of religion.
For curious readers young and old, a rich and colorful history of religion from humanity’s earliest days to our own contentious times In an era of hardening religious attitudes and explosive religious violence, this book offers a welcome antidote. Richard Holloway retells the entire history of religion—from the dawn of religious belief to the twenty-first century—with deepest respect and a keen commitment to accuracy. Writing for those with faith and those without, and especially for young readers, he encourages curiosity and tolerance, accentuates nuance and mystery, and calmly restores a sense of the value of faith. Ranging far beyond the major world religions of Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism, Holloway also examines where religious belief comes from, the search for meaning throughout history, today’s fascinations with Scientology and creationism, religiously motivated violence, hostilities between religious people and secularists, and more. Holloway proves an empathic yet discerning guide to the enduring significance of faith and its power from ancient times to our own.
The history of Britain and Ireland is incomprehensible without an understanding of the Christian faith that has shaped it. Introduced when the nations of these islands were still in their infancy, Christianity has provided the framework for their development from the beginning. Gerald Bray's comprehensive overview demonstrates the remarkable creativity and resilience of Christianity in Britain and Ireland. Through the ages, it has adapted to the challenges of presenting the gospel of Christ to different generations in a variety of circumstances. As a result, it is at once a recognizable offshoot of the universal church and a world of its own. It has also profoundly affected the notable spread of Christianity worldwide in recent times. Although historians have done much to explain the details of how the church has evolved separately in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, a synthesis of the whole has rarely been attempted. Yet the story of one nation cannot be understood properly without involving the others; so, Gerald Bray sets individual narratives in an overarching framework. Accessible to a general readership, The History of Christianity in Britain and Ireland draws on current scholarship to serve as a reference work for students of both history and theology.
Explores the production of John Foxe's 'Book of Martyrs', a milestone in the history of the English book.
How was the Reformation received by the majority of England's people? How did parishioners negotiate a pathway through this period of rapid and repeated change, maintaining a positive attitude to the hurch? Why, by the early seventeenth century, did most people consider themselves Protestant? In this lively and accessible introduction to English religious life during the century of the Reformation, Marsh attempts to answer these key questions and build a distinctive interpretation of religious developments during the period. Drawing together a wide range of recent research and making extensive use of colourful contemporary evidence, the involvement of ordinary people within, alongside and beyond the Church is explained. Topics such as liturgical practice, church office, relations with the clergy, festivity, religious fellowships, chea print, 'magical' religion and dissent are all considered. The author concludes that the popular response was resourceful, creative and flexible though dependent upon the strength of ideas about Christian neighbourliness, and upon the numerous links that existed between pre- and post-Reformation religion. This continuity of community was a powerful force and reflected an instinctive compromise between the old and the new rather than the victory of one over the other. This book is about the construction of that compromise. -- Book cover.
Excerpt from The History of Religion in England The Religion of England - Ever since the English were a nation, their religion has been. That of the Catholic Church of Christ. From the time that the Angles, Saxons, and J utes became Christians to the Reformation, from the sixth to the sixteenth century, all religious people in England were members of the Church. Since the Reformation other religious bodies have sprung into existence, some of them differing slightly, some very materially, from the Church; have attracted to themselves numbers of earnest and devout people; and have exercised a cor responding influence, from time to time, upon the government and policy of England. Still the majority of Englishmen have always remained members of the Church, and consequently the History of Religion in England is mainly the History of the Church of England. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.