The Victorian Church: Part Two, 1860–1901

The Victorian Church #2

by Owen Chadwick

Classic work of ecclesiastical history, exercising original and independent judgement. Volume 1 also available.

Genres: History

520 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

William Owen Chadwick, OM, KBE, FBA, FRSE, was a British Anglican clergyman, academic, writer and prominent historian of Christianity. He was also a rugby union player. He was Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge, from 1956 to 1983, Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History from 1958 to 1968, and Regius Professor of History from 1968 to 1983.

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good book of ecclesiastical history; in many senses, this was far better than the first volume as a matter of pure factuality. Alas, it does not surpass Vol. 1 because the story is simply not as exciting; it was such as shame Newman converted, he was such a fun Anglican. Besides this, Chadwick does write a very wide-reaching history of the church, with a particular focus on the intellectual history of the 19th century with regard to religion (although there is interestingly little discussion of Muller, but he was a German not an Englishman). The only disappointment I found was the brevity of the section of ritual and ritualism, but perhaps that is more my own pretension than anything else. Otherwise, much as I would say of the first volume, I do recommend this book.

[Matthew Eyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

After such a classic as Part One, I've always been a little disappointed by Part Two. It is, as it says on the tin, thematic but I would have liked to see more emphasis on The Queen herself,a devout Christian with very strong views on who should get the top jobs: Randall Davidson would have been AB of C in 1895 had her will prevailed

[Adrian Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Often wonderful with delightful touches, but maybe lacks balance - so little in Spurgeon or the new style evangelists like Moody yet so much on academic Anglicans whose lasting impact has been much less.