The Death of Christian Britain

Contents
List of illustrations ix
Acknowledgements x
Abbreviations xii
Note on oral history xiii
1 Introduction 1
2 The problem with ‘religious decline’ 16
The world we have lost 16
The myth of the unholy city 18
Envisioning religion 30
3 The salvation economy 35
The privatisation of faith 35
The salvation revolution 39
The salvation industry 43
4 Angels: women in discourse and narrative
1800–1950 58
The feminisation of piety 58
Evangelical sources for discourses on female piety 59
Telling stories about women 69
Evangelical narratives in the secular women’s press 79
5 Heathens: men in discourse and narrative
1800–1950 88
The problem of male religiosity 88
The problematic piety of even holy men 98
Telling stories about men 105
Evangelical narratives on men in the secular press 108
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