Local Churches in New Urban Britain, 1890-1975

Book excerpt: “This monograph is an important contribution to our understanding of the varied fortunes of British Christianity during the twentieth century.” - Rev Dr Andrew Atherstone, Tutor in Church History and Latimer Research Fellow, Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford, UK “This book is an important and original work. Anyone interested in twentieth-century Christianity in Britain will learn much from it. Grant Masom enables the reader to make sense of the new urban spaces that became a key part of British life in the last hundred years.” - Rev Dr David Goodhew, Visiting Fellow of St Johns College, Durham University, UK “This ground-breaking study adds new depth to our understanding of the importance of religion in English life and the role of the churches in shaping their own destiny in the first three-quarters of the twentieth century.” - Dr Mark Smith, Associate Professor in History, University of Oxford, UK This book contributes to the ongoing academic debates on secularisation—or the marginalisation of mainstream religious beliefs and practices—in twentieth-century British society. It addresses three areas in which the current literature is weak: the ‘agency’ of organised religion in the outcomes described as secularisation, rather than explanations based on external challenges (such as the ‘modernisation’ of society and thought, increased affluence, and more leisure choices); a focus on urban areas transformed by twentieth-century industrialisation and suburbanisation; and an extended time period to the end of the third quarter of the twentieth century, allowing proper consideration of long-term trends alongside short-term upheavals such as the World Wars, the Great Depression, and the social changes of the 1960s. Further, the book employs a distinctly different, highly data-driven approach, considers all religious movements, and sets its conclusions within the wider social and cultural context of a representative community.