CONFLICT AND CRISIS IN THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF LATE VICTORIAN ENGLAND
By Herbert Schlossberg
Transaction. 322 pages. £46.95
ISBN 978-1-4128-1027-2
The 19th century may feel rather distant, but this scholarly book demonstrates, with a wealth of detail, that a study of it is still relevant. The author is a member of the US Ethics and Public Policy Center, and a leading expert on the relationship between Christianity and society
This book follows his earlier one, The Silent Revolution and the Making of Victorian England, which described the period of evangelical dominance and the ensuing moral transformation of the nation in education, politics, language and social reform. That dominance was short-lived, however, and the present volume shows how evangelicalism declined, with fewer outstanding leaders and many children of evangelical homes leaving their parents’ faith. The prevalent teaching on ‘worldliness’, coupled with Adventism, led to some withdrawal from social action. Evangelicals of the late 19th century would not have had the stomach for the prolonged battle against slavery.
