Victorian Nonconformity - Softcover

David Bebbington

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0718892690 ISBN 13: 9780718892692

Publisher: James Clarke and Co Ltd, 2011

Synopsis

The Nonconformists of England and Wales, the Protestants outside the Church of England, were particularly numerous in the Victorian years. These Methodists, Congregationalists, Baptists, Quakers, Unitarians, and others helped shape society and made their mark in politics. This book explains the main characteristics of each denomination and examines the circumstances that enabled them to grow. It evaluates the main academic hypothesis about their role and points to signs of their subsequent decline in the twentieth century. Here is a succinct account of an important dimension of the Christian past in Britain.

About this title

Review:

'This book, a revised version of one published in 1992, is an over-all picture of Victorian Nonconformity. It will enlighten those who know nothing about it, and delight those who thought they did. [...] Yet Nonconformity has a bad press, affected by inaccurate stereotypes portrayed by Matthew Arnold and Charles Dickens. No one is better equipped to present an accurate picture than Professor Bebbington, who is the greatest living authority on the subject. [...] This account is full of fascinating details and heart-warming illustrations.' --Joy Horn, Cranleigh Baptist Church in Evangelicals Now, May 2012

'As David Bebbington shows in this excellent introduction, thoroughly revised and updated from a text originally published in 1992, Protestant Nonconformity was numerically thriving and culturally significant in Victorian England. ... This judicious and persuasive work, amply illustrated from contemporary sources and modern scholarship, is highly recommended.' --Martin Wellings, in: Theology, September/October 2012

...David Bebbington has succeeded admirably in presenting a concise, throught-provoking, almost comprehensive, balanced, and clear over-view of Victorian Nonconformity, from the 1830s to the first decade of the twentieth century. --Denis Paz, Reviews in Religion and Theology, volume 20, Issue 1, 2013

...The continuing value and appeal of Victorian Nonconformity will particularly be to undergraduates and taught postgraduates, Bebbington covering a huge amount of ground in limited space and combinig pithy and judicious assessments with telling illustrations, revealing how 'Victorian Nonconformity formed a vibrant Chrstian counter-culture', thereby tempering the movement's historically negative image... --Clive D. Field, Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society, Volume 59 Part 1, February 2013.

About the Author:

David Bebbington has served since 1976 at the University of Stirling, where he is Professor of History. His books include Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s (1989), The Mind of Gladstone: Religion, Homer and Politics (2004) and The Dominance of Evangelicalism: The Age of Spurgeon and Moody (2005).

About this edition

• Publisher: James Clarke and Co Ltd
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0718892690
• ISBN 13: 9780718892692
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 78