The Death of Christian Britain
The Death of Christian Britain
The Death of Christian Britain
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— <strong>The</strong> <strong>Death</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Christian</strong> <strong>Britain</strong> —<br />
pointed upward with her thin, wasted hand. ‘Hark, the music is<br />
s-o-u-n-d-i-n-g,’ she added. ‘G-o-o-d n-i-g-h-t! J-e-s-u-s, I a-m<br />
c-o-m-i-n-g.’<br />
Her son Jack, like the other miners, was a natural drinker, consuming vast<br />
quantities in the pub. But he heard the call at a religious meeting, and,<br />
though he tried to live a religious life, he suffered the taunts <strong>of</strong> his fellow<br />
miners. But there was an explosion at the pit with many dead and injured,<br />
and a long rescue operation. Under the stress, Jack lost God, returning to<br />
his old temptations. However, after a long struggle, he reconverted in the<br />
end. 104<br />
<strong>The</strong> male-centred evangelical narrative had important characteristics.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re were two structures in use between the 1850s and 1930s: the ‘son<br />
structure’ and the ‘husband structure’:<br />
<strong>The</strong> ‘Son Structure’ <strong>The</strong> ‘Husband Structure’<br />
A. Son lives with virtuous, A. Husband lives with virtuous<br />
struggling mother wife<br />
B. In late teenage years, son B. Husband is drunkard/gambler/<br />
feels temptation <strong>of</strong> drink/ wife-beater<br />
gambling/womanising C. Wife and children suffer in<br />
C. Son becomes sinner, leaves poverty<br />
home D. Chance event (<strong>of</strong>ten an<br />
D. Mother becomes ill or son accident to husband)<br />
meets virtuous woman- E. Wife nurses husband in<br />
reminder <strong>of</strong> mother <strong>Christian</strong> way<br />
E. Son converts F. Husband converts<br />
F. Chance event, threatening G. Family happier, if not richer<br />
conversion<br />
G. Conversion reaffirmed<br />
As with the structure <strong>of</strong> the women’s narrative studied in the last chapter,<br />
the narrative order might change, especially the chance event which could<br />
move up or down the sequence. <strong>The</strong> event was sometimes a mother’s death,<br />
or an accident to the central character. In a story <strong>of</strong> 1924, a young Irishman<br />
called Jock was raised by his struggling mother, but he disappointed her<br />
despite her continuous prayers: ‘Jock grew up to be a man; but alas, got<br />
in with bad company, and there he learned to drink and gamble. She never<br />
went to bed till he came home . . . She felt sure prayer would be answered<br />
for her boy.’ 105 Yet ‘Jock went deeper and deeper into sin’, enlisted as a<br />
soldier and left home, where he fell in with barrack-room sin <strong>of</strong> every<br />
description and neglected to write to his mother. When a message came<br />
that she was very ill, he was shocked and given leave to return home, but<br />
arrived at his mother’s deathbed moments too late. As a result, he found<br />
106