Religion and Society in Twentieth-century Britain

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Pearson Longman, 2006 - History - 344 pages

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.

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About the author (2006)

Callum Brown is professor of religious and cultural history at the University of Dundee. In 2001, he wrote a controversial study called The Death of Christian Britain that argued that Britainhad secularised as a result of sexual liberation and feminism in the 1960s. That book is now studied by historians and theologians around Europe. In Religion and Society in Twentieth Century Britain, Brown provides a rounded study of the place of faith and religious adherence in the lives of the British people, giving the first complete account of religion’s place in the nation’s culture and society.