Religion and Society in Twentieth-Century Britain

Religion, Politics and Society in Britain
Series Editor: Keith Robbins

Throughout the history of Britain religion has been a potent and influential force, permeating social and political life at many different levels. Yet it has often been written about in restricted institutional terms without accounting for the ways in which religious belief and practice have been bound up with wider social and political developments. Religion, Politics and Society in Britain shifts the focus on this complex and fluctuating relationship and investigates the changing role of religion in British life from 600 AD to the present.

In an age of war and depression, and then one of secular prosperity, Christianity long remained central to national life before fading into a pattern of cultural diversity.  With verve and perception, Callum Brown has written the first attempt to encompass the whole religious experience of twentieth-century Britain. Professor David Bebbington, University of Stirling

Prof. Brown writes with his usual clarity, originality and verve. Religion and Society in Twentieth-Century Britain is an essential introduction to religion and religious change in modern Britain. Dr Michael Snape, University of Birmingham

During the twentieth century, Britain turned from a deeply religious culture into one of the most secularised nations. The change was sudden, triggered by the cultural revolutions of young people and women in the 1960s. But in the 1980s and 1990s, the peaceful mellowing of religion on the wane was joined by the appearance of religious militancy amongst the remaining faithful. From being a mostly harmless part of British culture, religion developed a new potential for outlandishness, extremism and even danger.

This book provides the first comprehensive account of religion in British society and culture between 1900 and 2000. With a focus on the themes of faith cultures, secularisation, religious militancy and the spiritual revolution of the New Age, Religion and Society in Britain uses peoples own experiences and the stories of the churches to display the diversity and richness of British religion. With examples from across the U.K. and across the religious traditions, this is the first coherent history of the religious experience of the British people during the last century.

Callum G. Brown is Professor of Religious and Cultural History at the University of Dundee. His previous books include The Death of Christian Britain (2001) and Postmodernism for Historians (Longman, 2004).