The Dissenters Volume III: The Crisis and Conscience of Nonconformity
Michael R. Watts
Abstract
This third and final volume of the study of dissent examines the turbulent times of Victorian Nonconformity, a period of faith and of doubt. The book assesses the impacts of the major Dissenting preachers and provides insights into the various movements, such as romanticism and the higher, often German, biblical criticism. It shows that the preaching of hell and eternal damnation was more effective in recruiting to the chapels than the gentler interpretations. The book analyses surviving records of attendance at Nonconformist services. It provides fascinating accounts of Spurgeon and the other ... More
This third and final volume of the study of dissent examines the turbulent times of Victorian Nonconformity, a period of faith and of doubt. The book assesses the impacts of the major Dissenting preachers and provides insights into the various movements, such as romanticism and the higher, often German, biblical criticism. It shows that the preaching of hell and eternal damnation was more effective in recruiting to the chapels than the gentler interpretations. The book analyses surviving records of attendance at Nonconformist services. It provides fascinating accounts of Spurgeon and the other key figures of Nonconformity, including of the Salvation Army. The book also discusses the contribution which Nonconformity made to the politics of mid- to late-Victorian Britain. It examines such issues of reform as Forster's Education Act of 1871, temperance, and Balfour's Education Act of 1902, and considers Nonconformist interventions in such controversies as the Bulgarian Agitation, Home Rule for Ireland, the Armenian massacres of the mid 1890s, and the Boer War. The volume concludes with the Liberal landslide in the 1906 general election, which saw probably more Nonconformists elected than any time since the era of Oliver Cromwell.
Keywords:
dissent,
Victorian Nonconformity,
faith,
doubt,
preachers,
biblical criticism,
Education Act,
temperance,
Forster,
Balfour
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2015 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198229698 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: April 2015 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198229698.001.0001 |
