Jeremy Morris

THE STRANGE DEATH OF CHRISTIAN BRITAIN: ANOTHER LOOK AT THE SECULARIZATION DEBATE

This article reviews the recent historiography of religion in modern Britain, concentrating on the debate about secularization and the work of Callum Brown in particular, but also with reference to Sarah Williams and Simon Green. It endorses, broadly, the criticisms made by these and other historians of older assumptions of a one-way, ‘inevitable’ link between modernization and religious decline, but in turn accuses them of attenuating the concept of ‘religion’ in the modern period to the point where it has lost internal sophistication. It suggests, instead, the compatibility of indices of institutional church decline with the persistence of religious identity and limited church affiliation.

SECULARIZATION AND RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE: ARGUMENTS IN THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF MODERN BRITISH RELIGION

The historiography of religion in modern Britain has been dominated in recent years by controversy over the sociological theory of secularization. This review of the literature on secularization in modern Britain traces its apparent persuasiveness in part to assumptions about religious decline and renewal which are central to Christian soteriology. Recognition of the nature of secularization theory discloses a monolithic notion of religion itself. Closer attention to the complexity of religious experience may yield an account of religion more attuned to the contours of social change in modern Britain.

Religion and urban change : Croydon, 1840-1914

Introduction social structure the churches in Victorian Croydon I the churches in Victorian Croydon II the parochial system of government the limits of voluntarism the corporation conclusion - a crisis in the church. Appendices: Croydon - demography 1801-1921 Croydon - occupations and social class 1861-1911 church attendance - 1851-1902 the governing elite - 1829-1889.

Edinburgh 1910-2010: A Retrospective Assessment

The centenary of the World Missionary Conference held at Edinburgh in 1910 has recently been celebrated. The Conference has been hailed as a decisive point in the rise of the modern ecumenical movement and in the history of mission. But there is a need for objective analysis of what the Conference achieved. This article examines the legacy of Edinburgh 1910 through the themes of unity and mission, exploring subsequent changes in attitudes and concerns in the four areas of secularization, empire, nationalism and gender. It suggests that the real achievements of the Conference have been obscured by the mythology that has grown up around it, and that a proper reception of the Conference requires much closer attention to the conditions that produced it than has conventionally been undertaken.

British High Churchmen, Continental Church Tourism and the Roman Connection in the Nineteenth Century

This article examines accounts of continental church life to be found in the travel journals, letters and books of leading High Church Anglicans in the nineteenth century. It argues that these constitute a neglected source of evidence for understanding the interaction between continental church developments and the High Church revival in Anglicanism. It focuses particularly on accounts of travel in Catholic countries, and concludes that there are good reasons for assuming that experience of Catholic worship on the continent influenced High Church attitudes towards liturgical and ritual reform in Anglicanism.

George Ridding and the Diocese of Southwell: A Study in the National Church Ideal

This article examines the mindset and episcopal policy of George Ridding, first bishop of the new diocese of Southwell from 1884 until his death in 1904. Riddings intellectual formation was rooted in Liberal Anglicanism, and is analysed here through his ‘Broad Church’ understanding of the Church of England as a comprehensive national Church. His commitment to this ideal is demonstrated through his episcopal charges and speeches, and through elements of the policy of diocesan management that he adopted. A brief evaluation of this policy identifies limitations, as well as continuity with the earlier movement of diocesan reform.

The High Church Revival in the Church of England

In The High Church Revival in the Church of England the author reassesses the nature and impact of High Churchmanship, asserting its creativity and complexity as an enduring element of Anglican tradition.

Book Review: The Laity in Christian History and TodayThe Laity in Christian History and Today, Hylson-SmithKenneth (SPCK2008), 224 pp, £16.99 pbk

the Protestant tradition. This is in the context of acknowledging its weaknesses, not least in defining and defending boundaries. ‘Reformed culture has a tendency to splinter like glass,’ he observes. This is a very accessible account of Reformed spirituality. David Cornick has been a pastor, theological teacher and General Secretary of the United Reformed Church. His breadth of experience is evident in the text. He has recently become General Secretary of Churches Together in England, a testimony to his ability to speak beyond his own denomination. His exposition of Reformed spirituality is written in an ecumenical spirit.

Book review: Evangelical Disenchantment: Nine portraits of faith and doubtEvangelical Disenchantment: Nine portraits of faith and doubt, HemptonDavid (Yale University Press2008), 246 pp, £20.00 hbk

Emma on the subject of religion around the time of their marriage. This seems to have been the only occasion when the possibility of belief touched Darwin emotionally. He understood Emma’s commitment, and it moved him, but he could not pretend to feel the same. A few years later the death of his ten-year-old daughter Annie brought the reality of suffering home to Darwin. Intellectually the presence of suffering within the scheme of natural selection was of no great concern, but this loss made suffering personal and henceforth Darwin found it difficult to view the universe as benign. Darwin avoided controversy, and was usually reticent when discussing his religious views. Spencer has performed a useful task with his persuasive narrative of Darwin’s religious journey, and especially in highlighting which sort of God it was in whom Darwin lost faith. As Spencer suggests, Darwin’s own courteous restraint might teach today’s eager protagonists a useful lesson.

Book Review: The Rise and Decline of Anglican Idealism in the Nineteenth CenturyThe Rise and Decline of Anglican Idealism in the Nineteenth Century, GouldstoneTimothy Maxwell (Palgrave Macmillan2005), 252 pp, £50.00 hbk

and of Major’s vast archive correspondence, this is a deficit. Sometimes Pearson is prone to generalizations, not all of them mutually compatible, and there are some minor errors: Psalm 84 should surely be Psalm 127 (p. 18); the Anglican Association should be the Anglican Fellowship (p. 50); Geoffrey Allan should be Allen, and the two separate entries for him in the index thus combined; Hewlett Johnson was Dean of Manchester before he was Dean of Canterbury (p. 158); between March and May 1907 Major was in the Holy Land rather than convalescing from his trip there (p. 166); the photograph of Major’s gravestone at Merton (p. 178) indicates that he died on 26 January 1961 not 27 (as on p. 62); and Major was eighty-nine when he died not ninety (p. 189). It is to be hoped that this volume might generate interest in aspects of Major and modernism which Pearson identifies as ripe for fuller research. In the meantime, it not only contributes substantially to church and theological history, but also offers material for reflection on significant wider questions for the contemporary Church such as the dynamics of postcolonialism and the promotion of liberalism.