Religion and Society in Twentieth-Century Britain

Far from declining into a mere refuge for the few and the odd, some elements of religion in the UK have taken on a militancy unimaginable when faith appeared to be on the wane in the 1960s and 1970s. What caused this change? Brown (religious and cultural history, U. of Dundee) provides the first comprehensive study of religion in the UK in the twentieth century, deftly explaining the various Christian dissenting groups in an age mistakenly assumed to belong to the Church of England, the continuing influence of Victorianism and revival, the experience of war, the eventual turmoil in identity which followed, the inclusion of overseas-founded groups, and the growth of secularism in the cultural revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s, and the social and political agendas of a variety of faiths, including New Age movements, at the end of the century. Annotation c2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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.