The pervasive world-view: religion in pre-modern Britain

Journal/Book: Brit J Sociol. 1997; 48: 11 New Fetter Lane, London, England EC4P 4EE. Routledge. 667-680.

Abstract: Recent critics of the secularization thesis have questioned the extent to which premodern Britain was religious by creating a caricature of a 'Golden Age of Faith' and then showing that the reality fell short of that image. This rejoinder stresses the need to appreciate the nature of religion pre-Reformation and draws on the work of leading historians to show that, even if we accept the most jaundiced view of religion before and shortly after the Reformation, the previous orthodoxy was more accurate than the recent revisions. In Laslett's phrase, 'the world we have lost' was a religious world.

Note: Article Bruce S, Univ Aberdeen, Dept Sociol, Aberdeen AB9 1FX, SCOTLAND

Keyword(s): religion; secularization; pre-reformation

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