The Nineteenth-Century Church and English Society

Abstract

This is the first study to consider the meaning of Anglicanism for ordinary people in nineteenth-century England. Drawing extensively on unpublished sources, particularly those for rural areas, Frances Knight analyses the beliefs and practices of lay Anglicans and of the clergy who ministered to them. Building on arguments that the Church of England was in transition from state church to denomination, she argues that strong continuities with the past nevertheless remained. Through an examination of denominational identity, personal piety, Sunday church-going, and Anglican rites of passage she shows that the Church continued to cater for the beliefs and values of many Christians. Far from becoming a minority sect, the Anglican Church in the mid-Victorian period continued to claim the allegiance of one in four English people.

The Colonial Religion of the Anglican Clergy: Western Australia 1830 to c. 1870

“…71 Also, in England, increased services of Holy Communion did not necessarily translate into increased reception of the sacrament by parishioners, due to long-standing fears about the sacredness of the Eucharist and the consequences of unworthy reception. 72 This metropolitan evidence, along with the colonial reluctance about too frequent reception of Holy Communion, indicates that this was not motivated by religious indifference, secularism, or loss of faith, as some commentators, including the colonial clergy, have suggested. These people took their faith and their God seriously, even though it had an adverse impact on the frequency of reception of Holy Communion that clergy such as Wollaston expected of them.…”

“And can it be”: Analysing the Words, Music, and Contexts of an Iconic Methodist Hymn

“…52 More generally, Frances Knight notes how "Tractarian historians made an early attempt to write the history of the nineteenth-century Church, but by the beginning of the twentieth century Evangelicals were also offering their distinctive interpretation, though they never quite produced histories in the same quantity as the Anglo-Catholics." 53 It is therefore unsurprising that hymnody, as the most popular form of Methodist religious expression, featured in this endeavor. Hymns from these publications that became popular, such as And can it be, set to SAGINA, were perceived as being firmly rooted in Methodist traditions.…”

Recounting the Nation: The General Register Office and Victorian Bureaucracies

“…Whatever the case, the new form of civil registration in theory made it possible for them to get married more in a manner of their choosing and not of the local Reverend's. For a detailed examination of the Nineteenth Century Anglican Church, see Knight (1995).…”