VICTORIAN NONCONFORMITY
By David W. Bebbington
The Lutterworth Press. 70 pages. £15.00
ISBN 978 0 7188 9269 2
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.
The Victorian Free Churches provided a vibrant and growing Christian counter-culture. The ‘Nonconformist Conscience’ was a force to be reckoned with in politics. Yet Nonconformity has had 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.
