1st Edition

The Growth of Religious Diversity - Vol 1 Britain from 1945 Volume 1: Traditions

Edited By Gerald Parsons Copyright 1994
    356 Pages
    by Routledge

    356 Pages
    by Routledge

    This two-volume set considers the role and significance of religion in post-war Britian, focusing, in particular, upon the closely inter-related themes of the decline of a specifically `Christian Society' and the emergence of a culturally and religiously plural society. Three core questions are examined in depth: to what extent and in what ways has religion remained a significant factor in British culture and society in the period since 1945?, what role does religion play in interpreting and understanding the development of a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic society in post-war Britain?, and to what extent has Britain remained (or ceased to be) a `religious society' during this period.
    Volume 1: Traditions analyses the history and development of the major religious groups present in Britain in the period since 1945. The major religious traditions examined include the traditional Christian churches, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Afro-Caribbean religious groups, New Religious Movements, and the `implicit' religion of the `silent majority' who remain detached from organised religion but are by no means simply secular.
    Volume 2: Controversies explores some of the challenges, tensions and controversies presented by the emergence of an increasingly religiously plural society in Britain since 1945. In particular, it focuses on the impact of religious pluralism on both the Christian churches and other religious traditions, the relationship between communal and national `identities' and religion, women and religion, and the relationship between religion and changing attitudes to personal - and especially sexual - morality.

    Preface; Introduction: Persistence, Pluralism and Perplexity, Gerald Parsons; 1. Contrast and Continuitites: The Traditional Christian Churches in Britain Since 1945, Gerald Parsons; 2. Integrated but Insecure: A Portrait of Anglo-Jewry at the Close of the Twentieth century, David Englander; 3. Fragmented Universality: Islam and Muslims, John Wolffe; 4. Hindu Dharma in Dispersion, Terence Thomas; 5. Old Allies, New Neighbours: Sikhs in Britain, Terence Thomas; 6. Filling a Void? Afro-Caribbean Identity and Religion, Gerald Parsons; 7. Expanding the Religious Spectrum: New Relgious Movements in Modern Britain, Gerald Parsons; 8. The Religions of the Silent Majority, John Wolffe

    Biography

    Gerald Parsons