The Death of Christian Britain: Understanding Secularisation, 1800-2000

by Callum G. Brown

The Death of Christian Britain uses the latest techniques to offer new formulations of religion and secularisation and explores what it has meant to be 'religious' and 'irreligious' during the last 200 years. By listening to people's voices rather than purely counting heads, it offers a fresh history of de-christianisation, and predicts that the British experience since the 1960s is emblematic of the destiny of the whole of western Christianity. Challenging the generally held view that secularization has been a long and gradual process beginning with the industrial revolution, it proposes that it has been a catastrophic short term phenomenon starting with the 1960's. Is Christianity in Britain nearing extinction? Is the decline in Britain emblematic of the fate of western Christianity? Topical and controversial, The Death of Christian Britain is a bold and original work that will bring some uncomfortable truths to light.

Genres: History, Religion, Nonfiction, Christianity, Church History, Sociology, British Literature

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 24, 2001

About the author

Professor of Religious and Cultural History at the University of Dundee. He researches in the history of community ritual, personal memory and secularisation.

Reviews

[Vicky Thomasson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to read this book as part of my history degree and I don't usually add my course books onto Goodreads but I simply could not resist with this one. After yawning my way through the introduction I was dreading reading the rest of the book, however once I started on chapter 2, I could not put it down. Being a historian in the making, I always assumed 'the death of Christian Britain' began after the Reformation and had certainly taken a hold of the country by the Enlightenment. Brown disagrees with this and provides an excellent argument to back his theory up. Brown claims that the decline of Christianity actually began in the 1960's and uses statistics, primary sources and secondary sources to back this up. There is a rather interesting chapter on how classic literature even promoted how to be a good Christian, with examples from the likes of Dickens. His argument also includes the role women played in maintaining religion.

[C. B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I commend this book for its force of argument. Brown’s definition of secularisation is such that he doesn’t see it has having happened in Britain until the 1960s, rather later than most would. He sees the period 1800 to 1950 (with which most of the book is concerned) as one defined by the dominance of Christianity within culture. I take the points of Brown’s detractors, but it’s hard to fault him for his attempt at a thoroughgoing revisionism of our views of recent religious history in Britain.

[Finn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apart from the massive overuse of the word "discursive", which I wanted to blast out of the dictionary by the time I was a quarter of the way through... and a few inconvenient points I think he dismissed out of hand... a thoroughly thought-provoking thesis. Having to read the lot in three days due to an Open University deadline made it somewhat intense going -- but all the same I managed to mentally keep up with the author. Yes, there's jargon, but I thought it was explained in the course of the text, which was more accessible than many similar "era explaining" studies (eg Bossy's "Christianity in the West").

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

really interesting use of literature to chart christianity and engagingly written - particularly enjoyed the argument that sunday roasts destroyed church attendance. just a shame his overarching argument is not fully convincing …

[James Theuer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a dry sociology textbook that employs cultural marxist discourse to analyze secularization. This is an extremely powerful, emotionally resonant book for someone struggling with religious belief, particularly in a conservative Christian context - it's already changed me. These two sentences may seem antipodean, but that's because Brown encompasses an entire world; "the past is a foreign country" but the primacy and power of religion in Victorian and Edwardian England may as well belong to another planet entirely.

[Phelix Hua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unlike previous social class perspectives, this book re-analyzes the decline and fall of British Christianity from a gender perspective and "Discursive Christianity", aiming to break the myth of secularization constructed by the meta-narrative of social science, which only withered away in the 1960s and had a revival climax after the war. This conclusion differs from the traditional secular theory of the decline of religion (late eighteenth to early twentieth century). The author succeeded in convincing me because he had statistics and oral history material. Unfortunately, the material focuses on both sexes and lacks interview material from Clergy. Moreover, the author does not explain the cause of this phenomenon, or that the phenomenon of youth subculture and the rise of emerging narratives displayed by the author is not enough to convince me

[Roger Welch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am moving this to my read' list. I was going to re-read it, my first time being when the 1st edition was published. It is an important piece of research, adding to our understanding of the current state of Christianity in the UK. To have this thesis alongside the more accepted enlightenment and late-Victorian analysis of decline is both provocative and enticing. I have too much else to read right now to afford the re-read time though.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author left some rather importance things out, namely Catholics, but over all this was a pretty good book, though I'm not a fan of monocausal answers to historical questions.

[Ted Newell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great example that not only ideas but lived reality/experience/ritual/embodiment -- in this case, gender -- tells a significant part of the 1960s visible shift in Western culture.

[Aaron Cheng · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very refreshing angle to look at secularisation from the gender perspective. Brown argued well for his case

[Rob Markley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most valuable insight into the current state of Christian faith in the English speaking world. The case is overwhelming - all the more so considering the author is not a Christian himself