ABSTRACT

This title, first published in 1987, explores the phenomenon of militant freethought among England’s working classes from 1840-1870. In particular, it is an effort to explain the peculiarly theological and evangelistic overtones of much Victorian working class radicalism, and the resulting emergence of a Victorian religion of atheism. This title will be of interest to students of nineteenth-century religious and social history.

chapter I|33 pages

Child as Father of the Man

chapter II|52 pages

Orthodoxy: Immoral and Untrue

chapter III|40 pages

Personalities, Posturing, and Principles

chapter IV|38 pages

Choosing a Creed and a Cause

chapter V|45 pages

Orthodoxy “Out-Orthodoxed”

chapter |11 pages

Conclusion