The Church and Secularisation: Urban Industrial Mission in North East England

by Michael S. Northcott

Secularist theologies and new patterns of urban ministry and mission were major features of the response of the church to secularisation in the nineteen sixties. Michael Northcott describes the development of industrial mission and urban ministry in two major conurbations, Sunderland and Teesside, in the North East of England. The book explores the interaction of theologies of the secular with the ideologies and ministry structures of the Church of England, and the effects of secularisation on traditional ministry structures and religious affiliation. A significant case study of the relationship between ideologies of ministry and mission and the structures of the church in urban society, the book also examines the secularisation thesis, the social witness of the church, and the contemporary dialogue between sociology and theology.

240 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1989