1st Edition

The Church of England 1688-1832 Unity and Accord

By Dr William Gibson, William Gibson Copyright 2001
    276 Pages
    by Routledge

    288 Pages
    by Routledge

    A wide ranging new history of a key period in the history of the church in England, from the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688-89 to the Great Reform Act of 1832. This was a tumultuous time for both church and state, when the relationship between religion and politics was at its most fraught.
    This book presents evidence of the widespread Anglican commitment to harmony between those of differing religious views and suggests that High and Low Churchmanship was less divergent than usually assumed.

    Introduction; Chapter 1 Historians and the eighteenth-century Church; Chapter 2 The Anglican Revolution; Chapter 3 The development of the Church’s relations with the state; Chapter 4 Church Leadership in the Aftermath of Toleration; Chapter 5 The Church and culture; Chapter 6 The unity of Protestants; Chapter 7 The Church and national identity; Chapter 8 Conclusion;

    Biography

    William Gibson has written widely on the eighteenth and nineteenth century church and society. He is currently a senior manager at Basingstoke College of Technology and a Hartley Fellow of Southampton University.

    'Religion in this period has been recovering from earlier neglect, yet students have lacked an adequate modern survey ... this work fills the gap excellently ... Gibson has provided an able synthesis of recent scholarship, with an enlivening spin of his own. Much is judicious ... the book argues a case that demands attention.' - English Historical Review

    'This positive re-evaluation of its subject by one of the more thoughtful modern historians of the Church of England represents an important contribution to the revisionist theme that has dominated scholarship over the last decade. Gibson's perceptive account offers an overarching interpretation of the Church that provides an excellent context for more detailed local studies.' - Jeremy Black, Southern History, 2001

    'This book is an impressive and well-documented survey of the fortunes of the Church of England between the Glorious Revolution and the first Reform Act ... a valuable and polished work which will be of considerable interest to sepcialists andto students.' - British Journal for Eighteenth Century Studies