ABSTRACT
This title was first published in 2001. 'An age of faith or an age of doubt?'- the question has dominated study of Christianity in the Victorian era. Reinventing Christianity offers a fresh analysis of the vitality and variety of Christianity in Britain and America in the Victorian era. Part One presents an overview of some of the main varieties of Christianity in the west ranging from the conservative - Protestant evangelicalism and 'fortress' Catholicism - to the radical - Theosophy, Swedenborgianism and Transcendentalism; Part Two reviews negotiations between Christianity and the wider culture. The conclusion reflects on general trends in the period, showing how many of these prefigured later developments in religion. This book highlights the creativity and diversity of 19th century Christianity, showing how developments normally associated with the late 20th century - such as the reassertion of tradition and the rise of feminist theology and alternative spirituality - were already in train a century before.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part One|91 pages
Varieties
part I|54 pages
Transcendent Christianity
chapter Chapter One|10 pages
Evangelical Certainties: Charles Spurgeon and the Sermon as Crisis Literature
chapter Chapter Two|29 pages
Fortress Catholicism: The Art of Ultramontanism at Notre Dame de Fourvière
part II|35 pages
Liberal Christianity and Alternative Spiritualities
chapter Chapter Four|16 pages
The World’s Parliament of Religions and the Rise of Alternative Spirituality
part Two|153 pages
Negotiations
part III|46 pages
Christianity and Literature
chapter Chapter Seven|8 pages
Rewriting Genesis: The Nineteenth-Century Roots of D.H. Lawrence’s Religion
part IV|64 pages
Christianity and Gender
part V|36 pages
Christianity and Science