Christianity and social service in modern Britain : the disinherited spirit /

An elegantly written study that charts the relationship between Christianity and social service in Britain since the eighteenth century and presents a challenging new interpretation of the links between Christian decline and democratic traditions. Few subjects bring out so well the differences betwe...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Prochaska, F. K.
Format:	eBook
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2008.
Subjects:	Church charities > Great Britain. Church work with the poor > Great Britain. Church and social problems > Great Britain. Social service > Religious aspects > Christianity. Pastorale des pauvres > Grande-Bretagne. Église et problèmes sociaux > Grande-Bretagne. Église > Œuvres de bienfaisance > Grande-Bretagne. Church and social problems Church charities Church work with the poor Social service > Religious aspects > Christianity Great Britain Electronic books. Instructional and educational works. Matériel d'éducation et de formation.
Online Access:	Connect to the full text of this electronic book

Description
Summary:	An elegantly written study that charts the relationship between Christianity and social service in Britain since the eighteenth century and presents a challenging new interpretation of the links between Christian decline and democratic traditions. Few subjects bring out so well the differences between ourselves and our ancestors as the history of Christian charity. Against the background of the welfare state and the collapse of church membership, the very idea of Christian social reform has a quaint, Victorian air about it. In this elegantly written study of shifting British values, Frank Prochaska examines the importance of Christianity as an inspiration for political and social behaviour in the nineteenth century and the forces that undermined both religion and philanthropy in the twentieth. The waning of religion and the growth of government responsibility for social provision were closely intertwined. Prochaska shows how the creation of the modern British state undermined religious belief and customs of associational citizenship. In unravelling some of the complexities in the evolving relationship between voluntarism and the state, the book presents a challenging new interpretation of Christian decline and democratic traditions in Britain.
Physical Description:	1 online resource ([xii], 216 pages)
Bibliography:	Includes chapter notes with bibliographical references (pages [177]-209), and index.
ISBN:	9780199539796 0199539790 9780191713460 0191713465