The Death of Christian Britain (Christianity and Society in the Modern World)

The Death of Christian Britain: Understanding secularisation 1800–2000 (Christianity and Society in the Modern World)

History

Brown, Callum G.

Europe

Routledge

Amazon.com Review\nThe Church of England is dying, says Callum Brown, in The Death of Christian Britain. So, what's new? The difference, according to the Scottish historian, is in how long it's taken to reach the point of no return. Secularization theory, which emerged with the social sciences in the 19th century, was obsessed with the numbers of people not attending church. As the Industrial Revolution spread, Christians seized upon these numbers to illustrate how godforsaken our cities were becoming. Yet Brown argues this "authorized version" is mistaken. According to him, secularization began when the Beatles were releasing their first single in 1962. Instead of counting heads, he draws on anecdotal and cultural references to argue that Christianity was alive and well until the Swinging '60s. It just wasn't going to church.... 
He sheds fascinating (and sympathetic) light on the history of conversion, social action, and the church's public role in the nation. And his use of gender theory in the study of religion could be revolutionary. This may be a textbook, but it engages the mind and the soul. Sociologists and Christians in particular will be challenged to think harder. For "the Britain of the new millennium is showing the world how religion as we have known it can die." This is bound to unnerve Christians. Many might even take issue with the title, and refuse to read on. But to do so would be folly: a week spent immersed in Brown's book could reap substantially more fruit than a series of revival meetings. --Brian Draper, Amazon.co.uk\nThe Death of Christian Britain uses the latest techniques to offer new formulations of religion and secularisation and explores what it has meant to be 'religious' and 'irreligious' during the last 200 years. 
By listening to people's voices rather than purely counting heads, it offers a fresh history of de-christianisation, and predicts that the British experience since the 1960s is emblematic of the destiny of the whole of western Christianity. 
Challenging the generally held view that secularization has been a long and gradual process beginning with the industrial revolution, it proposes that it has been a catastrophic short term phenomenon starting with the 1960's. 
Is Christianity in Britain nearing extinction? Is the decline in Britain emblematic of the fate of western Christianity? Topical and controversial, The Death of Christian Britain is a bold and original work that will bring some uncomfortable truths to light.

The Death of Christian Britain examines how the nation’s dominant religious culture has been destroyed. Callum Brown challenges the generally held view that secularization was a long and gradual process dating from the industrial revolution. Instead, he argues that it has been a catastrophic and abrupt cultural revolution starting in the 1960s. Using the latest techniques of gender analysis, and by listening to people's voices rather than purely counting heads, the book offers new formulations of religion and secularization.   In this expanded second edition, Brown responds to commentary on his ideas, reviews the latest research, and provides new evidence to back his claims.

The Death of Christian Britain: Understanding Secularisation, 1800–2000 (Christianity and Society in the Modern World)

The Death of Christian Britain examines how the nation’s dominant religious culture has been destroyed. Callum Brown challenges the generally held view that secularization was a long and gradual process dating from the industrial revolution. Instead, he argues that it has been a catastrophic and abrupt cultural revolution starting in the 1960s. Using the latest techniques of gender analysis, and by listening to people's voices rather than purely counting heads, the book offers new formulations of religion and secularization. In this expanded second edition, Brown responds to commentary on his ideas, reviews the latest research, and provides new evidence to back his claims.

The Death of Christian Britain: Understanding Secularisation, 1800-2000 (Christianity and Society in the Modern World)

Scotland has long been regarded as the most strong;y religious region of mainland Britain.  Callum Brown highlights the diversity of religious activity in the country, explaining the development of presbyterianism, Catholicism, and episcopalianism as well as that of the many minor churches and sects.  using maps and tables, he shows how geographical and social factors help to explain regional differences in church affiliation and the strength of popular religious commitment.  Many historians have seen the kirk as the focus of Scottish nationalism, sustaining a distinctively Scottish popular culture.  Callum Brown shows how this view has been overstated.  He locates Scottish religious history firmly in its British context, explaining how the uniqueness of the Calvinist tradition fade between 1750 and 1850, to be replaced by a new evangelicalism shared by the rest of the English speaking world.  Secularization is identified as very recent, originating in the crisis of poverty and welfare reform between 1890 and 1930, and accelerating in the decades of economic prosperity between 1950 and the present day.  In the 20th century the increasing ecumenicalism of the churches has come into conflict with the sectarian tradition.  Popular bigotry, sustained by industrial decline, is deeply rooted, and powerful symbols like the Rangers-Celtic rivalry persist. This is essential and provocative reading for those interested in the role of religion in Scottish social history and for those who wish to understand the predicaments of the churches today, as attendances fall and alternative Sunday pursuits grow.  Callum Brown is a lecturer in History at the University of Strathclyde.

The Social History of Religion in Scotland Since 1730 (Christianity and Society in the Modern World)

Religion & Spirituality

Routledge& Kegan Paul

Britain since 1707 is the first single-volume book to cover the complex and multi-layered history of Great Britain from its inception until 2007. Bringing together political, economic, social and cultural history, the book offers a reliable and balanced account of the nation over a 300 year period. It looks at major developments – such as the Enlightenment, the growth of democracy and gender change – while also tracing the distinctive experience of different, the book’s additional features include: social and ethnic groups through the decades. Fully integrating Scotland, Wales and the Irish experience, the book’s comprehensive sweep includes coverage of the industrial revolution, the British Empire, the two world wars and today’s multicultural society. Ideally structured to support courses and classes on British history · ‘Focus On’ sections with original documents and sources · Timelines and tables to aid understanding · Historical sources and further reading suggestions at the end of each chapter · Illuminating contemporary illustrations From Queen Anne to Gordon Brown, this wide-ranging and accessible book provides a complete and up-to-date history of Britain. Offering a coherent account of the evolution of the nation and its people, it will be essential reading for all students of British history.

Britain Since 1707

Americas

Up-Helly-Aa: Custom, Culture and Community in Shetland

Up-Helly-AA is Europe’s largest and most spectacular winter fire festival. In the biting Arctic wind on the last Tuesday of every January, a "Guizer Jarl" leads one thousand men in guising costumes with flaming torches through the streets of Lerwick, the capital of the Shetland Isles, accompanying a Viking galley to its ceremonial burning. This is the first full study of the historical origins and contemporary significance of Up-Helly-AA. It traces the formation of Yule celebrations in the 1840s into the civic ritual constructed in the 1880s and 1890s by Shetland nationalists, folk revivalists, labour activists, teetotallers and municipal authorities. In the twentieth century, the renamed "Up-Helly-AA" became the principal community event in the Shetlands, making complex statements about gender, class, "nation," rebelliousness and respectability.

Manchester University Press

From current day sectarianism to the Free Church, religion has had a dominant effect upon society in Scotland for centuries. In this topical and thought-provoking book, Callum Brown examines the role of religion in the making of modern Scottish society. Tackling important contemporary themes such as the role of the Kirk in national identity and the growth of secularisation, he explains the history of Catholicism, Presbyterianism and Episcopalism over the last 250 years in an accessible and readable way.

Religion and Society in Scotland since 1707

Edinburgh University Press

This is the first book devoted to an oral history of a British university during the 'swinging sixties'. Students, lecturers and support staff are interviewed about teaching and working on campus in the mid-twentieth century. Told in their own words, it is a story of struggle and sacrifice, pride and commitment. It reveals how the modern university transformed lives, how new technologies propelled path-breaking research, and how with new skills its graduates could remodel society.The University of Strathclyde was created in central Glasgow in 1964 from the merger of two higher-education colleges. The Andersonian started in 1796 as Britain's first college to offer technical-based higher education to both women and artisans, whilst the Commercial College's opening literary night in 1847 was chaired by Charles Dickens. By the 1950s, both colleges still offered students 'useful knowledge' in engineering and commercial subjects, and launched them into local employment according to family traditions. But

The University Experience 1945-1975: An Oral History of the University of Strathclyde

McIvor, Arthur J.

Rafeek, Neil

People in the Pews: Religion and Society in Scotland Since 1780 (Studies in Scottish Economic & Social History)

Historical Study & Educational Resources

Economic & Social History Society of Scotland

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