Churches in England from Elizabeth I to Elizabeth II by Kenneth Hylson-SmithPublication Date: 1996
The second of this three-volume history of the churches in England covers the period from the Glorious Revolution to 1833, the year which marks the beginning of the Oxford Movement. It stands as an independent work, but takes up the story from where the first volume finished, and leads on to the third. Six themes help to give the book coherence and structure. The first is the way in which the English religious scene became increasingly complex with the emergence or consolidation of High Churchmanship, Evangelicalism and Liberalism within the Church of England; the transformation into Nonconformity; the emergence of new denominations such as Methodism, the Catholic Apostolic Church and the Brethren, and the transformation in the status and standing of Roman Catholicism. The second is the extent to which the churches were able to come to terms with unprecedented urbanization and industrialization. The third is the Evangelical revival. The fourth is the extent to which the Protestants in England contributed to the growing sense of Britishness among the population. The fifth is the emergence of overseas missionary work. The sixth is the increasing importance of secularization, rationalism, radicalism, Unitarianism, Socinianism and atheism.