Social Democracy in the Making

Dorrien, Gary

doi:10.2307/j.ctvfc51g5

Cited by 5 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…15 Minter Morgan succeeded in 'reconcil [ing] Owenite beliefs with membership of the Church of England' by distinguishing between Owen's personal views on revealed religion and the practical prescriptions of socialism. 16 He rejected the idea that 'vital Christianity' could bring about 'true Christian benevolence'.…”

Section: Denominational Identities and Doctrinal Commitmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tuveson, Millennium and Utopia. 133 Lockley,Visionary Religion and Radicalism,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. David Bebbington argues that post-millennialism was the 'characteristic eschatology of the Enlightenment', while pre-millennialism was 'that typical of Romanticism'.…”

Section: Millennialismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They were frequently denounced as 'irreligious' or 'infidels' or condemned as immoral and licentious in virtue of their perceived repudiation of religion. 16 Some regarded this as a fruitful source of publicity, but it was also a serious impediment to widespread endorsement in a context of religious observance. 17 It might then have been a helpful tactic to be able to defuse accusations of being 'irreligious' by challenging conceptions of what 'religion' is.…”

Section: Conceptual Innovationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…James Elishama Smith complained that these disagreements, which were so often about the 'most trifling and ludicrous conceits and metaphysical subtleties', offered an impediment to social change. 16 Plans for a national system of education had been scotched by squabbles between sects about who should control children's religious education and about how theologically prescriptive this education should be. 17 When the poor sought education and material security, the 'Scribes, Pharisees, Hypocrites' had given them in response only 'the serpent of religious contention'.…”

Section: Division and Conflictmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to Stedman Jones, the 'most important' way in which 'the religious origins of socialism continue [d] to affect its subsequent character' was in 'the place assigned by socialism to politics', in the relegation of politics to a merely instrumental role and in the indifference to forms of government. 16 Such a lack of interest in politics, the result of socialism's 'religious origins', represents an encumbrance to the development of a successful socialism.…”

Section: Religiosity As Outdatedmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Early British Socialism and the ‘Religion of the New Moral World’

Lucas¹

2023

Palgrave Studies in Utopianism

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This thesis will be concerned with the question of the relationship between Owenite socialists and religion. In this thesis I will seek to untangle and disambiguate existing scholarly accounts of the relationship between Owenite socialism and religion. I will then identify how Owenites offer a re-conception of the nature of 'religion' as advanced through knowledge of the natural and social world, as a prospective source of solidarity which could serve as the unifying bond for communities, and as constituted by ethical conduct. I will demonstrate how these Owenites' critique of contemporary religion was shaped by the particular conditions of the early nineteenth century, conditions which represented a problem to which they offered a solution. I then show how this solution was formed by drawing upon the traditions of natural theology, popular religion, deism, and Rational Dissent. I show how this solution was formed through a sincere and considered reflection upon the problem of religious truth. I will then show the importance of this reimagination of religion to their understanding of socialism. I demonstrate that these Owenites understood their socialism to be, in part, a project of religious reform, as rivalling the Oxford Movement and as a successor to the Reformation. Their religious interests were not an eccentric adornment to their socialism, an outdated residue yet to be shed and encumbering the development of a mature socialism, or merely instrumental to their temporal goals. Instead, their ambitions of religious reform were grounded in the philosophical preoccupations which animated their socialism. They conceived theological falsehoods as an obstacle to the triumph of socialism. And they argued that one should become a socialist, in part, precisely because it created the conditions for the popularisation of religious virtue. I conclude by identifying some implications of the argument of this thesis. Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Background 1.2 Thesis Structure 1.3 Early Nineteenth-Century Britain 1.4 Three Precursors Chapter 2: The State of the Literature 2.1 Owenism and Religion 2.1.1 Denominational Identities and Doctrinal Commitments 2.1.2 Owenites as Anti-Religious 2.1.3 Owenites as Borrowing from the Christian Tradition 2.1.3.1 Millennialism 2.1.3.2 Owenism as (akin to) a Sect 2.1.3.3 Protestant Communalism 2.1.4 Rational Religion 2.1.4.1 Rational Religion as Morality. 2.1.4.2 Rational Religion and Competition for Authority 2.1.4.3 Rational Religion as Secular Religion 2.2 Owenism as Socialism and Trade UnionismChapter 3: Reconceiving Religion 3.1 Conceptual Innovation 3.2 Religion and Knowledge 3.3 Religion and Solidarity 3.4 Religion and Morality Chapter 4: Owenite Socialism in Religious Context 4.1 Challenges and Deficiencies 4.1.1 Division and Conflict 4.1.2 Church Conservatism 4.1.3 Evangelicalism 4.

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Section: Denominational Identities and Doctrinal Commitmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%