History of Christianity in Britain

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The Church of St Martin in Canterbury is the oldest extant church building in Britain still in use as a church. It is the oldest Anglican parish church.

The history of Christianity in Britain covers the religious organisations, policies, theology and popular religiosity since ancient history.

The

disestablishment took place in 1920 when the Church in Wales became independent from the Church of England. In Scotland, the (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland, established in a separate Scottish Reformation in the 16th century, is recognized as the national church
, but not established.

Following the Reformation, adherence to the Catholic Church continued at various levels in different parts of Britain, especially among

Methodists, grew outside of the established church.[2]

Roman Britain

Main article: Christianity in Roman Britain

People in

Mithras, and Cybele; Christianity was just one of these eastern cults.[4]: 6  The archaeologist Martin Henig suggested that to "sense something of the spiritual environment of Christianity at this time", it would be useful to imagine India, where Hinduism, "a major polytheistic system", remains dominant, and "where churches containing images of Christ and the Virgin are in a tiny minority against the many temples of gods and goddesses".[6]

England

Celts

Main article: Celtic Christianity

The late

St Piran's Oratory is dated to the 6th century, making it one of the oldest extant Christian sites in Britain.[14]

Anglo-Saxons

Gregory the Great.[note 2]
Main articles: Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England and Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England

In comparison to its uninterrupted continuity in the culturally

Venerable Bede
.

Normans

Perpendicular
style following an earthquake in 1382.

Christianity in post-conquest England was generally separatist in character, with the right to appoint bishops belonging to the king despite papal objections.[19]

By the 11th century, the

King John's refusal to accept Pope Innocent III's nominee as archbishop of Canterbury. England was placed under interdict in 1208 and John excommunicated the following year; he enjoyed the seizure of the Church's revenues but finally relented owing to domestic and foreign rivals strengthened by papal opposition.[20] Although John quickly reneged on his payments,[20] Innocent thereafter took his side and roundly condemned Magna Carta, calling it "not only shameful and demeaning but illegal and unjust".[21] A major reform movement or heresy of the 14th century was Lollardy, led by John Wycliffe, who translated the Bible into English. Posthumously condemned, his body was exhumed and burnt and its ashes thrown into the River Swift.[22]

Even before the Conquest,

Oxford and Cambridge
began as religious schools in the 11th and 13th centuries, respectively.

English Reformation

Main articles: English Reformation and History of the Church of England
Marian Persecutions, from John Foxe's Book of Martyrs
.

differed little at first except with regard to royal authority over canon law: Lutheranism remained condemned and John Frith, Robert Barnes, and other Protestants were also martyred, including William Tyndale, whose Obedience of a Christian Man inspired Henry's break with Rome and whose translation of the Bible formed the basis of Henry's own authorised Great Bible. Meanwhile, laws in 1535 and 1542
fully merged Wales with England.

For the next 150 years, religious policy varied with the ruler:

Test Act, which—along with the Popish Plot—led to the Exclusion Crisis, and the latter contributed to the Glorious Revolution
of 1688.

1689–1945

A stained-glass window in Rochester Cathedral in Kent, incorporating the Flag of England

The religious settlement of 1689 shaped policy down to the 1830s.[24][25] The Church of England was not only dominant in religious affairs, but it blocked outsiders from responsible positions in national and local government, business, professions and academia. In practice, the doctrine of the divine right of kings persisted,[26] old animosities had diminished, and a new spirit of toleration was abroad. Restrictions on Nonconformists were mostly either ignored or slowly lifted. The Protestants, including the Quakers, who worked to overthrow King James II were rewarded. Toleration Act 1688 allowed Nonconformists who have their own chapels, teachers and preachers, and censorship was relaxed.[27]

Anti-Catholicism

Main article: Anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom

Harsh penalties on Catholicism remained until the threat of a French restoration of the Catholic Stuart kings ended, but they were seldom enforced, and afterwards were slowly lifted until

Restoration of the English hierarchy.[28][29]

The Evangelical Revival

Main articles: First Great Awakening § Evangelical Revival in Britain, and Methodism
Statue of Methodism's founder John Wesley in St Paul's Churchyard

The

upper-class, and suitable behaviour for everyone else, together with faithful observances of rituals. John Wesley (1703 – 1791) and his followers preached revivalist religion, trying to convert individuals to a personal relationship with Christ through Bible reading, regular prayer, and especially the revival experience. Wesley himself preached 52,000 times, calling on men and women to "redeem the time" and save their souls. Wesley always operated inside the Church of England, but at his death, it set up outside institutions that became the Methodist Church.[30] It stood alongside the traditional nonconformism of Presbyterians, Congregationalist, Baptists, Unitarians and Quakers. The earlier Nonconformists, however, were less influenced by revivalism.[31]

The Church of England remained dominant, but it had a growing evangelical, revivalist faction: the "Low Church". Its leaders included William Wilberforce and Hannah More. It reached the upper class through the Clapham Sect. It did not seek political reform, but rather the opportunity to save souls through political action by freeing slaves, abolishing the duel, prohibiting cruelty to children and animals, stopping gambling, and avoiding frivolity on the Sabbath. They read the Bible every day. All souls were equal in God's view, but not all bodies, so evangelicals did not challenge the hierarchical structure of English society.[32]

Census of 1851

As part of

the regular census in 1851, the Government conducted a census in England and Wales of attendance at religious services on 30 March 1851. Reports were collected from local ministers who reported attendance at their services on 30 March 1851. The effect of individuals attending multiple services (morning/afternoon/evening) could not be fully accounted for, but the estimated number of individuals attending a service at some point in the day was 7,261,032 people. The number of individuals attending morning services was 4,647,482, and the total number of attendees (including duplicates) was 10,896,066.[33][34]
The total population at the time was 17.9 million.

Missionary activity

During the 18th century heyday of the First British Empire, Anglican and Methodist missionaries were active in the 13 American Colonies. The Methodists, led by George Whitefield, were the most successful and after the revolution and entirely distinct American Methodist denomination emerged that became the largest Protestant denomination in the new United States.[35] A major problem for colonial officials was the demand of the Church of England to set up an American bishop; this was strongly opposed by most of the Americans and never happened. Increasingly colonial officials took a neutral position on religious matters, even in those colonies such as Virginia where the Church of England was officially established, but in practice controlled by laymen in the local vestries. After the Americans broke free, British officials decided to enhance the power and wealth of the Church of England in all the settler colonies, especially British North America (Canada).[36]

During the

Africa. New religious orders
were also established within the Anglican fold.

All the main denominations were involved in 19th-century missions, including the Church of England, the Presbyterians of Scotland, and the Nonconformists. Much of the enthusiasm emerged from the Evangelical revival. Within the Church of England, the Church Mission Society (CMS) originated in 1799[37] and went on to undertake activity all around the world, including in what became known as "the Middle East".[38][39]

Missionary societies funded their own operations that were not supervised or directed by the Colonial Office. Tensions emerged between the missionaries and the colonial officials. The latter feared that missionaries might stir up trouble or encourage the natives to challenge colonial authority. In general, colonial officials were much more comfortable with working with the established local leadership, including the native religions, rather than introducing the divisive force of Christianity. This proved especially troublesome in India, were very few local elites were attracted to Christianity. In Africa, especially, the missionaries made many converts. By the 21st century there were more Anglicans in Nigeria than in England, and they were culturally and theologically much more conservative.[40][41]

Missionaries increasingly came to focus on education, medical help, and long-term modernisation of the native personality to inculcate European middle-class values. They established schools and medical clinics. Christian missionaries played a public role, especially in promoting sanitation and public health. Many were trained as physicians, or took special courses in public health and tropical medicine at Livingstone College, London.[42]

1900–1945

Randall Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1903-1928

In the 20th century, the

Ecumenical Movements were important developments. Randall Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1903 to 1928, was perhaps the most influential of the churchmen.[43]

A curious case was

Resurrection of Christ. This led to calls that he should resign as a bishop; he refused, but Davidson made a gentle attack on Barnes in an open letter.[44][45]

Although the overall population was growing steadily, and the Catholic membership was keeping pace, the Protestants were slipping behind. Out of 30-50 million adults, they dropped slowly from 5.7 million members in 1920, and 5.4 million in 1940, to 4.3 million in 1970.

based in the Nonconformist community, and which rapidly lost membership in the 1920s as its leadership quarrelled, the Irish Catholics and many from the working-class moved to the Labour Party, and part of the middle class moved to the Conservative party.[48] Hoping to stem the membership decline, the three major Methodist groups united in 1932.[49] In Scotland the two major Presbyterian groups, the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church, merged in 1929 for the same reason. Nonetheless the steady declension continued.[46]: 284–85  The Nonconformists showed not just a decline in membership but a dramatic fall in enthusiasm. Sunday school attendance plummeted; there were far fewer new ministers. Antagonism toward Anglicanism sharply declined, and many prominent Nonconformists became Anglicans, including some leading ministers. There was a falling away in the size and fervour of congregations, less interest in funding missionaries, a decline in intellectualism, and persistent complaints about the lack of money.[50] Commentator D. W. Brogan
reported in 1943:

In the generation that has passed since the great Liberal landslide of 1906, one of the greatest changes in the English religious and social landscape has been the decline of Nonconformity. Partly that decline has been due to the general weakening of the hold of Christianity on the English people, partly it has been due to the comparative irrelevance of the peculiarly Nonconformist (as a part from Christian) view of the contemporary world and its problems.[51]

One aspect of the long-term decline in religiosity was that Protestants showed increasingly less interest in sending their children to faith schools. In localities across England, fierce battles were fought between the Nonconformists, Anglicans, and Catholics, each with their own school systems supported by taxes, and secular schools, and taxpayers. The Nonconformists had long taken the lead in fighting the Anglicans, who a century before had practically monopolised education. The Anglican share of the elementary school population fell from 57 per cent in 1918 to 39 per cent in 1939.[52] With the sustained decline in Nonconformist enthusiasm their schools closed one after another. In 1902, the Methodist Churches operated 738 schools; only 28 remained in 1996.[53]

Britain continued to think of itself as a Christian country; there were a few atheists or nonbelievers, and unlike the continent, there was no anti-clericalism worthy of note. A third or more prayed every day. Large majorities used formal Church services to mark birth, marriage and death.[46]: 280–90  The great majority believed in God and heaven, although belief in hell fell off after all the deaths of the World War.[54] After 1918, Church of England services stopped practically all discussion of hell.[55]

As anti-Catholicism declined sharply after 1910, the Catholic Church grew in numbers, grew rapidly in terms of priests and sisters, and expanded their parishes from intercity industrial areas to more suburban locales. Although underrepresented in the higher levels of the social structure, apart from a few old aristocratic Catholic families, Catholic talent was emerging in journalism and diplomacy. A striking development was the surge in highly publicised conversion of intellectuals and writers including most famously G. K. Chesterton, as well as Christopher Dawson, Maurice Baring, Ronald Knox, Sheila Kaye-Smith, William E. Orchard, Alfred Noyes, Rosalind Murray, Arnold Lunn, Eric Gill, David Jones, Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, Manya Harari, and Frank Pakenham.[56]

Since 1945

Present debates concern the ordination of women and the acceptance of homosexuality within the Church and clergy. The established church continues to count many more baptised members, although immigration from other countries means that the restored Catholic Church in England and Wales now has greater attendance at its weekly services.[57][58]

Whilst identifying significant decline in statistical data of church attendance from the 1950s onwards, Paul Backholer, author of Britain, A Christian Country, found notable exceptions to the decline, which includes the up to two million people who attended Billy Graham's United Kingdom campaigns from 1954-55. With Wembley Stadium filled to overflowing with 120,000 people, Graham's meeting on Sunday 23 May 1954 was called, "Britain's biggest religious meeting of all time."[59] Subsequent renewal movements include the Pentecostal movement, the Charismatic Renewal and more recently, rapid growth in ethnic minority churches. Whilst church attendance continues to decline, he concludes Britain remains, "Historically and culturally Christian in nature," something he notes is recognised by significant leaders of minority faiths in Britain, as an expression of tolerance.[60]

Roman Catholics

English Catholicism continued to grow throughout the first two thirds of the 20th century, when it was associated primarily with elements in the English intellectual class and the ethnic Irish population. Rates of attending Mass remained very high in stark contrast with the Anglican church and Nonconformist Protestant churches.[61] Clergy numbers, which began the 20th century at under 3,000, reached a high of 7,500 in 1971.[62]

By the latter years of the 20th century low numbers of vocations also affected the church[63] with ordinations to the priesthood dropping from the hundreds in the late 20th century into the teens in 2006–2011; 20 men were ordained to the diocesan priesthood in 2011 and 31 in 2012.[64]

The upward social movement of Irish Catholics out of the working-class into the middle-class suburban mainstream often meant their assimilation with broader, secular English society and loss of a separate Catholic identity. The

recusant families are still a force in the land."[66][67][68]

Scotland

Main article: History of Christianity in Scotland

Early history

Main article: Celtic Christianity

Scottish Reformation

Main articles: Scottish Reformation and Scottish religion in the seventeenth century
In 1559, John Knox returned from ministering in Geneva to lead the Calvinist reformation in Scotland.

During the 16th century, Scotland underwent a

Zwingli-influenced George Wishart, who was burnt at the stake on the orders of Cardinal Beaton in 1546, angered Protestants. Wishart's supporters assassinated Beaton soon after and seized St. Andrews Castle, which they held for a year before they were defeated with the help of French forces. The survivors, including chaplain John Knox, were condemned to be galley slaves in France, stoking resentment of the French and creating martyrs for the Protestant cause.[71] Limited toleration and the influence of exiled Scots and Protestants in other countries, led to the expansion of Protestantism, with a group of lairds declaring themselves Lords of the Congregation in 1557 and representing their interests politically. The collapse of the French alliance and English intervention in 1560 meant that a relatively small, but highly influential, group of Protestants were in a position to impose reform on the Scottish Church. A confession of faith, rejecting papal jurisdiction and the mass, was adopted by Parliament in 1560, while the young Mary, Queen of Scots, was still in France.[70]
: 120–1 

Knox, having escaped the galleys and spent time in Geneva as a follower of Calvin, emerged as the most significant figure of the period. The Calvinism of the reformers led by Knox resulted in a settlement that adopted a (partial) Presbyterian polity and rejected most of the elaborate trappings of the medieval Church. The reformed Kirk gave considerable power to local lairds, who often had control over the appointment of the clergy. There were widespread, but generally orderly outbreaks of iconoclasm. At this point the majority of the population was probably still Catholic in persuasion and the Kirk found it difficult to penetrate the Highlands and Islands, but began a gradual process of conversion and consolidation that, compared with reformations elsewhere, was conducted with relatively little persecution.[70]: 121–33 

In the 1690s the Presbyterian establishment purged the land of

Episcopalians and heretics, and made blasphemy a capital crime. Thomas Aitkenhead, the son of an Edinburgh surgeon, aged 18, was indicted for blasphemy by order of the Privy Council for calling the New Testament "The History of the Imposter Christ"; he was hung in 1696.[72]
: 64–65  Their extremism led to a reaction known as the "Moderate" cause that ultimately prevailed and opened the way for liberal thinking in the cities.

18th Century

Main article: Scottish religion in the eighteenth century
Ebenezer Erskine whose actions led to the establishment of the Secession Church.

The early 18th century saw the beginnings of a fragmentation of the

Evangelical Revival of the later 18th century.[74]
a key result was the main Presbyterian church was in the hands of the Moderate faction, which provided critical support for the Enlightenment in the cities.

Long after the triumph of the Church of Scotland in the Lowlands, Highlanders and Islanders clung to an old-fashioned Christianity infused with

animistic folk beliefs and practices.[citation needed] The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established Church.[citation needed] The later 18th century saw some success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society.[75] Catholicism had been reduced to the fringes of the country, particularly the Gaelic-speaking areas of the Highlands and Islands. Conditions also grew worse for Catholics after the Jacobite rebellions and Catholicism was reduced to little more than a poorly-run mission. Also important was Scottish Episcopalianism, which had retained supporters through the civil wars and changes of regime in the 17th century. Since most Episcopalians had given their support to the Jacobite rebellions in the early 18th century, they also suffered a decline in fortunes.[73]

19th century

Main article: Scottish religion in the nineteenth century
Thomas Chalmers statue in George Street, Edinburgh

After prolonged years of struggle, in 1834 the Evangelicals gained control of the General Assembly and passed the Veto Act, which allowed congregations to reject unwanted "intrusive" presentations to livings by patrons. The following "Ten Years' Conflict" of legal and political wrangling ended in defeat for the non-intrusionists in the civil courts. The result was a schism from the church by some of the non-intrusionists led by Dr Thomas Chalmers known as the Great Disruption of 1843. Roughly a third of the clergy, mainly from the North and Highlands, formed the separate Free Church of Scotland. The evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly in the Highlands and Islands, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.[75] Chalmers's ideas shaped the breakaway group. He stressed a social vision that revived and preserved Scotland's communal traditions at a time of strain on the social fabric of the country. Chalmers's idealised small equalitarian, kirk-based, self-contained communities that recognised the individuality of their members and the need for cooperation.[76] That vision also affected the mainstream Presbyterian churches, and by the 1870s it had been assimilated by the established Church of Scotland. Chalmers's ideals demonstrated that the Church was concerned with the problems of urban society, and they represented a real attempt to overcome the social fragmentation that took place in industrial towns and cities.[77]

In the late 19th century the major debates were between fundamentalist Calvinists and theological liberals, who rejected a literal interpretation of the Bible. This resulted in a further split in the Free Church as the rigid Calvinists broke away to form the

Free Church.[73]

Salvation Army, which attempted to make major inroads in the growing urban centres.[74]

20th and 21st centuries

Main article:
Christianity in Scotland

In the 20th century existing Christian denominations were joined by other organisations, including the

2001 census 42.4 per cent of the population identified with the Church of Scotland, 15.9 per cent with Catholicism and 6.8 with other forms of Christianity, making up roughly 65 per cent of the population (compared with 72 per cent for Britain as a whole). Of other religions Islam was at 0.8 per cent, Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism and Hinduism were all at around 0.1 per cent. Other religions together accounted for 0.6 per cent of respondents and 5.5 per cent did not state a religion. There were 27.5 per cent who stated that they had no religion (which compares with 15.5 per cent in Britain overall).[79][80] Other more recent studies suggest that those not identifying with a denomination, or who see themselves as non-religious, may be much higher at between 42 and 56 per cent, depending on the form of question asked.[81]

Wales

Main article: Christianity in Wales

Early history

Main article: Celtic Christianity

Welsh Reformation

Bishop

liturgical language
and vehicle for worship. This had a significant role in its continued use as a means of everyday communication and as a literary language down to the present day despite the pressure of English.

Nonconformity

Main article: Nonconformity in Wales
Howell Harris was one of the main leaders of the Welsh Methodist revival in the 18th century.

Nonconformity was a significant influence in Wales from the 18th to the 20th centuries. The

Presbyterian church of Wales in 1823.[83]

The Welsh Methodist revival also had an influence on the older Nonconformist churches, or

Congregationalists
— who in turn also experienced growth and renewal. As a result, by the middle of the nineteenth century, Wales was predominantly a Nonconformist nation.

The 1904–1905 Welsh revival was the largest full scale Christian revival of Wales of the 20th century. It is believed that at least 100,000 people became Christians during the 1904–1905 revival, but despite this it did not put a stop to the gradual decline of Christianity in Wales, only holding it back slightly.

Secularisation

Historians agree that in the late 1940s Britain was a predominantly Christian nation, with its religiosity reinforced by the wartime experience. Peter Forster found that in answering pollsters the English reported an overwhelming belief in the truth of Christianity, a high respect for it, and a strong association between it and moral behaviour.[84] Peter Hennessy argued that long-held attitudes did not stop change; by midcentury: "Britain was still a Christian country only in a vague attitudinal sense, belief generally being more a residual husk than the kernel of conviction."[85] Kenneth O. Morgan agreed, noting that: "the Protestant churches. Anglican, and more especially non-conformist, all felt the pressure of falling numbers and of secular challenges....Even the drab Sabbath of Wales and Scotland was under some threat, with pressure for opening cinemas in Wales and golf-courses in Scotland."[86]

Harrison reports that the forces of

secularisation grew rapidly, and by the 1990s Protestantism cast a thin shadow of its 1945 strength. Compared to Western Europe, Britain stood at the lower end of attendance at religious services, and near the top in people claiming ‘no religion’. While 80 per cent of Britons in 1950 said they were Christians
, only 64 per cent did so in 2000. Brian Harrison states:

By every measure (number of churches, number of parish clergy, church attendance, Easter Day communicants, number of church marriages, membership as a proportion of the adult population) the Church of England was in decline after 1970. In 1985 there were only half as many parish clergy as in 1900.[87] Also, while in the 2001 census still 72 per cent of British population identified as Christians, in 2011 only 59 per cent did so.[88][89]

According to the 2018 British Social Attitudes Survey, which asks "Do you have a religion, and if so what is it?", Britain was majority irreligious.[90] The 2021 United Kingdom census, which asks "What is your religion?", recorded lower numbers than the BSA for the non-religious, but also that Christianity had slipped below half the population.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ First attested in William of Malmesbury's On the Antiquity of the Glastonbury Church, which was written during the 1130s, although the passages dealing with Joseph seem to be later additions to the text.[11]
  2. ^ The name is in the halo, in a later hand. The figure is identified as a saint by his clerical tonsure, and is the earliest surviving historiated initial.[15] The view that it represents Gregory is set out by Douglas Dales in a recent article.[16][17]

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Further reading

  • Bebbington, David W. Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s (Routledge, 2003)
  • Brown, Callum G. The death of Christian Britain: understanding secularisation (2nd ed. 2009) excerpt
  • Brown, Callum G. "Secularization, the Growth of Militancy and the Spiritual Revolution: Religious Change and Gender Power in Britain, 1901–2001" Historical Research 80#209 (2007), pp. 393–418.
  • Chadwick, Owen, The Victorian Church: Vol 1 1829-1859 (1966); Victorian Church: Part two 1860-1901 (1979); a major scholarly survey
  • Cox, Jeffrey. The British Missionary Enterprise since 1700 (2008).
  • Davie, Grace. Religion in Britain since 1945: Believing without belonging (Blackwell, 1994)
  • Davies, Rupert E. et al. A History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain (3 vol. Wipf & Stock, 2017). online
  • Gilley, Sheridan, and W. J. Sheils. A History of Religion in Britain: Practice and Belief from Pre-Roman Times to the Present (1994) 608pp excerpt and text search
  • Hastings, Adrian. A History of English Christianity: 1920-1985 (1986) 720pp a major scholarly survey
  • Morris, Jeremy. '"Secularization and Religious Experience: Arguments in the Historiography of Modern British Religion" Historical Journal 55#1 (2012), 195–219, online
  • Obelkevich, J. Religion and Rural Society (Oxford University Press, 1976)
  • Shaw, Duncan, edt al. "What is Religious History?" History Today (1985) 35#8 online, commentary by 8 scholars
  • Soloway, Richard Allen. “Church and Society: Recent Trends in Nineteenth Century Religious History.” Journal of British Studies 11.2 1972, pp. 142–159. online

England and Church of England

  • Gilbert, Alan. Religion and Society in Industrial England. Church, Chapel and Social Change, 1740 – 1914 (Longman, 1976).
  • Glasson, Travis. Mastering Christianity: Missionary Anglicanism and Slavery in the Atlantic World (2011).
  • Hastings, Adrian. A history of English Christianity, 1920-1985 (HarperCollins, 1986).
  • Hylson-Smith, Kenneth. The churches in England from Elizabeth I to Elizabeth II (1996).
  • Marshall, Peter. "(Re)defining the English Reformation," Journal of British Studies, July 2009, Vol. 48#3 pp 564–586
  • Martin, Mary Clare. "Church, school and locality: Revisiting the historiography of 'state' and 'religious' educational infrastructures in England and Wales, 1780–1870." Paedagogica Historica 49.1 (2013): 70-81.
  • Thomas, Keith. Religion and the decline of magic: studies in popular beliefs in sixteenth and seventeenth-century England (1991) highly influential study of popular religious behaviour and beliefs

Scotland and Presbyterianism

  • Brown, Callum G. The social history of religion in Scotland since 1730 (Methuen, 1987)
  • Brown, S. J., "Religion and society to c. 1900", in T. M. Devine and J. Wormald, eds, The Oxford Handbook of Modern Scottish History (Oxford University Press, 2012)
  • Henderson, G. D. Religious Life in Seventeenth-Century Scotland (Cambridge University Press, 2011)
  • Piggott, Charles A. "A geography of religion in Scotland." The Scottish Geographical Magazine 96.3 (1980): 130-140.

Wales

  • Chambers, Paul, and Andrew Thompson. "Coming to terms with the past: religion and identity in Wales." Social compass 52.3 (2005): 337-352.
  • Davies, Ebnezer Thomas. Religion in the Industrial Revolution of South Wales (U. of Wales Press, 1965)
  • Jenkins, Geraint H. Literature, religion and society in Wales, 1660-1730 (University of Wales Press, 1978)
  • Morgan, Derec Llwyd. The Great Awakening in Wales (Epworth Press, 1988)
  • Walker, R. B. "The Growth of Wesleyan Methodism in Victorian England and Wales." The Journal of Ecclesiastical History 24.03 (1973): 267-284.
  • Williams, Glanmor. History of Wales, Vol. 3: Recovery, Reorientation & Reformation: Wales, c. 1415-1642 (1987) 528p.
  • Williams, Glanmor. The Welsh Church from Conquest to Reformation (University of Wales Press, 1976)
  • Williams, Glanmor. The Welsh Church from Reformation to Disestablishment: 1603-1920 (University of Wales Press, 2007)
  • Williams, Glanmor, ed. Welsh reformation essays (University of Wales Press, 1967)
  • Yalden, Peter. "Association, Community and the Origins of Secularisation: English and Welsh Nonconformity, c. 1850–1930." The Journal of Ecclesiastical History 55.02 (2004): 293-324.
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