ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that there was a causal link between modernization and the decline of traditional religion. It also argues, however, decline at the level of individual belief and participation may be a less significant feature of secularization than the declining social, political and economic role of religion in European societies. The book shows how the growth of an indigenous form of Welsh Christianity centred upon the local chapel and expressed in the Welsh language helped create and sustain a distinctive national identity over against a potentially hegemonic English culture. It provides evidence of the softening of Christianity, and predicts the continued success of its softened forms. The book draws a clear distinction between modern and pre-modern societies in which both rationalization and societalization are identified as markers of modernization.
