ABSTRACT

This four-volume historical resource provides new opportunities for investigating the relationship between religion, literature and society in Britain and its imperial territories by making accessible a diverse selection of harder-to-find primary sources. These include religious fiction, poetry, essays, memoirs, sermons, travel writing, religious ephemera, unpublished notebooks and pamphlet literature. Spanning the long nineteenth century (c.1789–1914), the resource departs from older models of ‘the Victorian crisis of faith’ in order to open up new ways of conceptualising religion. Volume four on ‘Disbelief and New Beliefs’ explores the transformation of the religious landscape of Britain and its imperial territories during the nineteenth century as a result of key cultural and intellectual forces.

part 1|68 pages

Biblical Criticism

section 1.1|31 pages

Hebrew Bible Criticism

chapter 1|13 pages

James Heywood (ED.), Introduction to the Book of Genesis with a Commentary on the Opening Portion, From the German of Dr Peter Von Bohlen

(London: John Chapman, 1855), vol. 1, pp. 1–8; vol. 2, pp. 107–121

chapter 2|13 pages

Claude Goldsmid Montefiore, The Bible for Home Reading with Comments and Reflections for the Use of Jewish Parents and Children

(London: Macmillan, 1896), vol. 1, pp. i–viii, 573–583

section 1.2|14 pages

Lives of Jesus

chapter 3|4 pages

Thomas Scott, The English Life of Jesus

(London: Thomas Scott, 1872), pp. 31–37

chapter 4|6 pages

[Edwin A. Abbott], Philochristus: Memoirs of a Disciple of the Lord

(London: Macmillan, 1878), pp. vii–viii, 239–248, 437

section 1.3|20 pages

Egyptology

chapter 5|8 pages

Samuel Sharpe, Egyptian Mythology and Egyptian Christianity with Their Influence on the Opinions of Modern Christendom

(London: John Russell Smith, 1863), pp. vii–x, 10–15, 49–52

chapter 6|7 pages

Harriet Martineau, Eastern Life Past and Present

(London: Edward Moxon, 1848), vol. 1, pp. 242–249; vol. 3, pp. 69–74

part 2|52 pages

Scientific Approaches

section 2.1|12 pages

The Secularisation of Wonder

chapter 7|3 pages

Robert Lewins, Humanism Versus Theism; or Solipsism (Egoism) = Atheism. In a Series of Letters by Robert Lewins M.D.

(London: Freethought Publishing Company, 1887), pp. 12–15

chapter 8|1 pages

Constance C. W. Naden, Untitled Notebook [1878–79]

University of Birmingham, Cadbury Research Library, USS 115, pp. 46–48

chapter 9|2 pages

Constance C. W. Naden, ‘Starlight. I’ and ‘Starlight. II’

In Songs and Sonnets of Springtime (London: C. Kegan Paul, 1881), pp. 142–143

chapter 10|2 pages

Constance C. W. Naden, ‘The Brain Theory of Mind and Matter’

Journal of Science, March 1883, pp. 121–129 (pp. 128–129)

section 2.2|19 pages

The Roots of Faith

chapter 11|3 pages

Edward Clodd, The Story of Creation: A Plain Account of Evolution

(London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1891), pp. 224–228

chapter 12|3 pages

Francis Galton, Inquiries into Human Faculty and its Developments

(London: Macmillan, 1883), pp. 294–298

chapter 13|9 pages

James Sully, ‘A Girl’s Religion’

Longman’s Magazine, May 1890, pp. 89–99

section 2.3|18 pages

Changing Minds

chapter 14|7 pages

Richard Carlile, An Address to Men of Science

(London: R. Carlile, 1821), pp. 6–9, 30–35

chapter 15|5 pages

William Winwood Reade, The Outcast

(London: Chatto and Windus, 1875), pp. 83–86, 100–105, 254–262

chapter 16|2 pages

John W. Overton, Saul of Mitre Court; Being Extracts From The Papers of Mr Gadshill

(Printed for private circulation, 1879), pp. 197–198

part 3|113 pages

Esotericism

section 3.1|39 pages

Spiritualism

chapter 17|5 pages

H. [Anna Mary Howitt], Glimpses of a Brighter Land

(London: Baillière, Tindall, and Cox, 1871), pp. 1–6, 61–63, 168–169

chapter 18|20 pages

W. T. Stead, ‘Borderlanders of the Bible: the Prophet Elijah’

Borderland: A Quarterly Review and Index, 1.2, October 1893, pp. 133–141

chapter 19|4 pages

Alfred Russel Wallace, ‘The “Journal of Science” on Spiritualism’

Light: A Journal of Psychical, Occult, and Mystical Research, 5, 11 July 1885, pp. 327–328

chapter 20|6 pages

Frederick F. Cook, ‘The Harmony of Spiritualism and Science: A Rejoinder to Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace, LL.D.’

Light: A Journal of Psychical, Occult, and Mystical Research, 5, 18 July 1885, pp. 339–341

section 3.2|36 pages

Theosophy

chapter 22|9 pages

Libra [Susan E. Gay], ‘Womanhood From the Theosophical Point of View’

Shafts, 1, 9, December 1891, pp. 131–132; 1, 10, January 1892, pp. 152–153

chapter 23|10 pages

Mohini M. Chatterji, ‘On the Higher Aspect of Theosophic Studies’

Theosophist, 66, March 1885, pp. 140–144

section 3.3|24 pages

Esoteric Christianity

chapter 24|4 pages

Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland, The Perfect Way; or, The Finding of Christ

(London: Hamilton Adams, 1882), pp. 191–197

chapter 25|6 pages

Alice Oliphant and Laurence Oliphant, Sympneumata, Or Evolutionary Forces Now Active in Man

(Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1885), pp. 4–8, 20–30

chapter 26|9 pages

Marie Corelli [Mary Mackay], The Romance of Two Worlds

(London: Bentley, 1886), vol. 2, pp. 121–147

section 3.4|11 pages

New Thought

chapter 27|3 pages

Frances Lord, Christian Science Healing: its Principles and Practice

(London: George Redway, 1888), pp. 1–3, 375–376

chapter 28|4 pages

Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Dawn of a To-Morrow

(London: F. Warne, 1907), pp. 98–111

part 4|84 pages

Comparative and Universal Religion

section 4.1|18 pages

Anagārika Dharmapāla and Modern Buddhism

chapter 29|11 pages

T.W. Rhys Davids, ‘What Has Buddhism Derived From Christianity?’

Journal of the Pāli Text Society (1923), pp. 37–53

chapter 30|3 pages

AnagĀRika DharmapĀLa, ‘Points of Resemblance and Difference Between Christianity and Buddhism’

In John Henry Barrows (ed.), The World’s Parliament of Religions, 2 vols (Chicago: Parliament Publishing, 1893), vol. 2, pp. 1288–1290

section 4.2|39 pages

Keshub Chunder Sen and the New Dispensation

chapter 31|14 pages

Sophia Dobson Collet, Indian Theism and its Relation to Christianity

(London: Strahan, 1870)

chapter 32|20 pages

Keshub Chunder Sen, We the Apostles of the New Dispensation

(Calcutta: Brahmo Tract Society, 1881)

section 4.3|24 pages

Oswald Simon and the Universal Jewish Theistic Church

chapter 33|12 pages

Oswald John Simon, ‘The Mission of Judaism’

Fortnightly Review, 66 (1896), pp. 577–589

chapter 34|7 pages

H. Adler, Sylvie D’Avigdor, C[Laude] G[Oldsmid] Montefiore, James Martineau, Anna Swanwick and Charles Voysey, Responses to ‘The Mission of Judaism’

Jewish Quarterly Review, 9 (1897), pp. 184–189, 197–199, 211, 217–219

part 5|86 pages

Freethought

section 5.1|16 pages

New Theistic Directions

chapter 35|1 pages

Anon., Deism and Christianity Contrasted

(London: M. A. Carlisle, c. 1820).

chapter 36|6 pages

Sara S. Hennell, Extract From Present Religion: as A Faith Owning Fellowship with Thought

(London: Trübner & Co., 1865), pp. 8–14, 18–19

chapter 37|5 pages

F. H. J., Spiritual Pantheism

(Ramsgate: Thomas Scott, 1872), pp. 17–22, 24–26

section 5.2|14 pages

Owenism

chapter 38|2 pages

Anon., ‘The Religion of the Millennium’

The New Moral World, or Millennium, 57, 28 November 1835, p. 33

chapter 39|4 pages

Emma Martin, Religion Superseded, or The Moral Code of Nature Sufficient for the Guidance of Man

(London: Watson, c. 1844), pp. 3–5, 14–16

chapter 40|4 pages

Thomas Frost, Forty Years’ Recollections: Literary and Political

(London: S. Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, 1880), pp. 13–15, 20–25

section 5.4|13 pages

Atheism

chapter 42|2 pages

Harriet Law, ‘A Few Words to Freethinkers’

Secular Chronicle, 5, 2 January 1876, pp. 1–2

chapter 43|5 pages

Saladin [W. Stewart Ross], God and His Book

(London: W. Stewart & Co., 1887), pp. 2–9

chapter 44|2 pages

Daniel Chatterton, ‘Where are You Going to When You Die?’

Chatterton’s Commune; the Atheistic Communistic Scorcher, 29 (1892)

section 5.5|20 pages

Secular Gatherings