Christian Radicalism in the Church of England and the Invention of the British Sixties, 1957-1970

The Hope of a World Transformed

Sam Brewitt-Taylor

Oxford Historical Monographs

Provides the first detailed account of Anglican "Christian radicalism" in the 1960s
Writes the history of the British Sixties from a postsecular perspective, reinterpreting secularization as a cultural choice rather than Britain's destiny
Contextualizes Britain's moral revolution firmly against the backdrop of the Cold War

Christian Radicalism in the Church of England and the Invention of the British Sixties, 1957-1970

The Hope of a World Transformed

Sam Brewitt-Taylor

Description

This study provides the first postsecular account of the moral revolution that Britain experienced in the 1960s. Beginning from the groundbreaking premise that secularity is not a mere absence, but an invented culture, it argues that a new form of British secularity achieved cultural dominance during an abrupt cultural revolution which occurred in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This moral revolution had little to do with affluence or technology, but was most centrally a cultural response to the terrors of the Cold War, which pitted Christian Britain against the secular Soviet Union. By exploring contemporary prophecies of the inevitable arrival of "the secular society", Sam Brewitt-Taylor shows that, ironically, British secularity was given decisive initial momentum by theologically radical Christians, who destigmatized the idea of "modern secularity" and made it available for appropriation by a wide range of Sixties actors. Further than this, radical Christians played a significant contributory role in deciding what kind of secularity Britain's Sixties would adopt, by narrating Britain's moral revolution as globalist, individualist, anti-authoritarian, sexually libertarian, and politically egalitarian. In all these ways, radical Christians played a highly significant role in the early stages of Britain's Sixties.

Christian Radicalism in the Church of England and the Invention of the British Sixties, 1957-1970

The Hope of a World Transformed

Sam Brewitt-Taylor

Oxford Historical Monographs

Introduction: Christian radicalism and the invented revolutions of the 1960s
1. World crisis and the making of Christian radicalism, c.1938-1957
2. Christian radicalism and the enactment of secular theology
3. Christian radicalism and the hope of Christian unity
4. Christian radicalism and the hope of transcending 'religion'
5. Christian radicalism and the hope of escaping human authority
6. Christian radicalism and the hope of a revolution of love
7. Christian radicalism and the hope of revolutionary social justice
Conclusion: Crisis, eschatology, and the re-invention of British modernity
Bibliography

Christian Radicalism in the Church of England and the Invention of the British Sixties, 1957-1970

The Hope of a World Transformed

Sam Brewitt-Taylor

Oxford Historical Monographs

Author Information

Sam Brewitt-Taylor is Darby Fellow in Modern History at Lincoln College, Oxford, where he teaches British and European history since 1815, and researches moral change in mid-twentieth-century Britain. He studied at Oxford, where he gained BA (2007), MSt (2008), and DPhil degrees (2013). His first article, about the idea of 'secularization' in 1960s Britain, won the 2012 Duncan Tanner prize, awarded by Twentieth Century British History. An overview of his work is available from www.sambrewitt-taylor.com.

Christian Radicalism in the Church of England and the Invention of the British Sixties, 1957-1970

The Hope of a World Transformed

Sam Brewitt-Taylor

Oxford Historical Monographs

Reviews and Awards

Joint winner of the Ecclesiastical History Society Book Prize

"There is much to consider in Brewitt-Taylor's arguments and this important work will hopefully spur on new research." -- Carmen M. Mangion, Birkbeck, University of London, UK, Journal of Contemporary History

"this is a nicely written, intelligent and provocative study that adds significantly to this ongoing debate." -- Theology

"The book is meticulously researched. Almost every page has half a dozen foot notes and there is a thirty-page biography. The past cannot be repeated, but would that we could recapture the enthusiasm of the radicals of the sixties with their willingness to challenge religious and political authoritarianism and recapture the hope that people of faith can make a real contribution to a transformed world." -- Marcus Braybrooke, Faith and Freedom

"an important work, both for those who were around at the time and are willing to have their cherished memories and interpretations challenged, and equally for others in the Church and the academic world who were not around then and are keen to under-stand the Sixties' theological and cultural legacy" -- Peter Selby , Church Times

"Sam Brewitt-Taylor presents an ambitious and bold re-interpretation of two dominant and habitually interconnected narratives of modern British history: the stories of secularisation and the sixties ... It will be of great interest to anyone who thinks about how and why historical change occurs." -- David Geiringer, Contemporary British History