KING S COLLEGE LONDON DEPARTMENT OF THEOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES. 6AAT3351: Varieties of Religious Experience: Christianity in Britain,

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1 KING S COLLEGE LONDON DEPARTMENT OF THEOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES 6AAT3351: Varieties of Religious Experience: Christianity in Britain, (Level 6-15 credits) : Semester 2 Mondays at 12 in STRAND S-3.18 STRAND BLDG: 18/1, 25/1,1/2, 8/2, 15/2; 29/2, 7/2, 14/2, 21/2 With exception of last week, Friday 1 April at 12 in STRAND B4 NORTH WING Module tutor: Michael Ledger-Lomas Michael.ledger-lomas@kcl.ac.uk Office hours M 14:30 to 15:30, Th 16:30 to 17:30 1. Introduction Module Syllabus Outline / What is our topic? (a) Module educational aims Facilitate an understanding of the key features of religious change in modern Britain Enable students to engage critically with primary and secondary sources related to the period and area Combine empirical, historical knowledge with sociological or theological perspectives (b) Module learning outcomes Generic skills: The capacity to plan and execute research at a level appropriate to a Level 6 module. The capacity to engage critically with primary and secondary sources. The capacity to present well-reasoned and well-structured historical arguments, supported by relevant evidence, both orally and on paper. Module-specific skills: An ability to identify the critical developments in the history of British Christianity from the later nineteenth to the mid-twentieth-century. The capacity to assess the validity of leading historical texts, and to appraise their methodology The capacity to assess the merits of sociological and historical approaches to religion in modern Britain (c) Module content: description and teaching plan 1

2 This module explores a world in which Christianity gradually lost its social and intellectual hegemony, taking its place as just one of many forms of religion and irreligion in Britain. From the early twentieth century, the Christian churches experienced first relative and then absolute decline. Numbers of worshippers and members stalled or fell and by the second half of the twentieth century many of the countless churches and chapels erected by the Victorians were closed or turned over to other uses. A range of developments posed a radical challenge to the social and moral teaching of the churches: from the creation of the welfare state to the development of commercialised leisure and the spread of affluence and permissiveness. This module traces the slow eclipse of Christianity as a dominant force in British society and culture back to the later nineteenth century. It introduces students to theories of secularisation and the problems of periodisation and explanation that result from their application to the history of modern Britain. It begins by explaining the ways in which developments in religion, society and culture in nineteenth-century Britain prepared the way the loss of Christian hegemony in the twentieth. These ranged from the political activism of Protestant dissenters, who brought about the partial secularisation of the British state and as a result of British politics, to the decoupling of the universities from clerical control and the intellectual ascendancy of scientists. The module also emphasises the development of new spaces which were or appeared to be impervious to Christian influences, ranging from the inner city to the golf course. As well as insisting upon these challenges however, the module invites students to reflect on responses to them, which slowed, temporarily reversed or perhaps just exacerbated the pace of dechristianization. It examines the clerical championship of the welfare state, the Christian embrace of the modern media and the rise of 'broadcast minds': a new breed of lay apologists for religion. It looks at both conservative evangelicals and Roman Catholics, who in their different ways broke with mainstream Protestants by isolating their faith from prevailing developments in national culture and by acting as part of transatlantic and global faith communities. It ends by considering the 'religious crisis of the 1960s' and asking whether the collapse in Christianity's hegemony during that decade represented a sudden change or rather the culmination of trends explored throughout the course. Lectures, seminars and participation / How can I get involved? The module draws on a wide range of primary sources, from statistical evidence to autobiography, novels and architecture. Most sessions will be divided in a fairly fluid way between a lecture and periods of discussion. Students will be encouraged to come to the classes prepared to participate in the discussion, primarily by reading primary sources which will be posted on KEATS in advance. The reading list will provide sufficient background for full participation in the classes and for the writing of essays on related topics. Each student will be given a provisional mark and constructive feedback on the coursework essay, both returned via KEATS, which may be followed up by a one-to-one tutorial in appointments to be advertised. KEATS & Maughan Library / Where do I find relevant sources? 2

3 The module area on KEATS contains links to primary and secondary sources where these exist in electronic form. Otherwise you should be able to find all readings listed in the Maughan Library. Please also consult and please contact me or Maughan Library, if they think that relevant sources are missing. 2. Module plan & Readings Please note that there is an Online Reading List for this Module, which contains all the essential and recommended reading required for essay writing. In preparation for each week s class, it is essential to read the primary texts hosted on the KEATS page for the module. Reading some of the essential items would also be a good idea as it will introduce you to the main themes discussed in class. Recommended introductions, source collections, and general works (* indicates a text that is essential for your work): This section includes surveys of religious history in the period, which should be consulted routinely, introductions to some of the key themes of the paper as well as surveys of intellectual, social, economic and cultural history which provide essential context for many of the sessions. Secondary Texts Brown, Stewart, Providence and Empire: Religion, Politics and Society in the United Kingdom, [Maughan Lib. Chancery Lane [Humanities books] BR759 BRO ] Brown, Callum, The Death of Christian Britain (2nd edition) [ELECTRONIC] Brown, Callum, Religion and Society in 20th-Century Britain (2006) [Maughan Library, Chancery Lane Classmark BR759 BRO] Brown, Judith and Wm Roger Louis, eds, The Oxford History of the British Empire: IV: The Twentieth Century (1999) [Maughan Lib. Chancery Lane [Humanities books] DA16 OXF] Carnevali, F. and Strange, J-M., eds., Twentieth-Century Britain: Economic, Cultural and Social Change (2nd Edition 2007) * [Maughan Library, Chancery Lane Classmark DA566 TWE] Clarke, P.F., Hope and Glory: Britain, (1996) [Maughan Library, Chancery Lane classmark DA 566 CLA] Davie, Grace, Religion in Britain Since 1945: Believing Without Belonging (1994) [Maughan Library, Chancery Lane, Classmark BR759 DAV] Etherington, Norman, Missions and Empire (2005) [Maughan Lib. Chancery Lane [Humanities books] BV2420 MIS] Garnett, Jane, Redefining Christian Britain: Post 1945 Perspectives (2007) [Maughan Lib. Chancery Lane [Humanities books] BR759 RED ] Green, S.J.D., The Passing of Protestant England: Secularisation and Social Change, c (2010) [Maughan Library, Chancery Lane, Classmark BR759 GRE] McKibbin, Ross, Classes and Cultures: England [Maughan Lib. Chancery Lane [Humanities books] HN400.S6 MAC and ELECTRONIC] Halsey, A.H., Twentieth-century British Social Trends (2000) [Maughan Lib. Chancery Lane [Humanities books] HN385 TWE] Harris, Jose, Private Lives, Public Spirit: A Social History of Britain (1993) 3

4 [Maughan Library, Chancery Lane classmark HN385.8 HAR] Harrison, Brian, Seeking a Role: The United Kingdom, (2009) [ELECTRONIC] Hastings, Adrian, A History of English Christianity, [Maughan Lib. Chancery Lane [Humanities books] BR759 HAS] * Jackson, Alvin, The Two Unions: Ireland, Scotland and the Survival of the United Kingdom, (2011) [ELECTRONIC] Machin G.I.T., Churches and Social Issues in Twentieth-Century Britain (1998) [Maughan Library, Chancery Lane HN39.G7 MAC plus ELECTRONIC] McLeod, Hugh and Werner Ustorf, eds., The Decline of Christendom in Western Europe, (2003) [Maughan Library, Chancery Lane BR735 DEC] McLeod, Hugh, ed., Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 9, World Christianities c.1914-c.2000 (2006) [Maughan Library, Chancery Lane, BR479 WOR] Porter, Andrew, The Oxford History of the British Empire: II: The Nineteenth Century (1999) [Maughan Lib. Chancery Lane [Humanities books] DA16 OXF and ELECTRONIC] Robbins, Keith, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales: The Christian Church, (2008)* Searle, GR, A New England? Peace and War, [Maughan Lib. Chancery Lane [Humanities books] DA560 SEA] * Thompson, Andrew, ed., Britain's Experience of the Empire in the Twentieth Century (2012) [ELECTRONIC] Thompson, FML, Cambridge Social History of Britain: III: Social Agencies and Institutions (2008) Works of Reference and Research Material In researching your essays or preparing for class discussion you will find that the online Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is a vital resource. It should ensure at the least that you are confident about the identity and the dates of the people you discuss and its short biographies are often the most authoritative concise summary of recent scholarship on the topic. You can find it here: One way to enrich your knowledge of particular topics is to pursue leads to primary sources yourself. You can quickly access many of the writings of the people you will read about - particularly for the early part of the period - in full text or PDF form via these resources: Internet Archive Google Books And via the Maughan Electronic Database page you can access both 'British Library Newspapers' and 'British Periodicals' which are very rich databases of primary sources. The Catholic Herald is a treasure trove for the history of the Catholic Church in the twentieth century: 4

5 The Church Times is similarly useful for the history of the Church of England (follow the link for 'non-subscribers' and use King's credentials to log in): While the archive of Theology is good on its intellectual life: You can access visual material to illustrate and deepen your investigations via these websites among others: Art and Architecture British Museum Museum of London National Portrait Gallery Pathé Archive Tate Britain Victoria and Albert Museum I would direct you finally and in particular to London itself as a source for this module. Simply by walking within a couple of miles of King s you will find an extraordinary array of churches and other monuments which powerfully illustrate the themes explored in this paper. To give just a few examples: Methodist Central Hall (1911) opposite Westminster Abbey, an enormous neo-baroque church and hall built to express the confidence of early twentieth-century dissenters; St Clement Danes Church on the Strand, gutted in WWII and restored as a memorial to the RAF; or the City Temple by Holborn Viaduct, built in 1874 and then luxuriously restored in 1958 as a base for the celebrity preacher (and amateur sexologist) Leslie Weatherhead. There are countless other examples both in and beyond central London as well of course beyond London itself. Keep your eyes open then as you move through London and keep it and other places you know in mind as a source that can assist you in visualising and materialise the themes that you write about. In doing so you might find particularly helpful these resources: Nikolas Pevsner, Bridget Cherry et al, The Buildings of England: London (6 vols) Rosemary Ashton, 142 Strand: A Radical Address in Victorian London (2008) John Marriott, Beyond the Tower: a History of East London (2012) Jerry White, London in the Nineteenth Century (2008) Jerry White, London in the Twentieth Century: a City and its People (2008) (a mixed bag, but full of richly illustrated local history) 5

6 Week 1 Secularisation and Dechristianisation in Modern Britain Week 2 Dissent, Establishment and the Secularization of British Politics Week 3 - Christian Socialism? State, Humanitarianism and Welfare Week 4 From Clergyman to Don: The Rise of the Sciences Week 5 - Broadcast Minds: Religion and the Media Reading Week Week 6 Puzzled People: Common Religion in Britain Week 7 - Christianity and Gender Week 8 - Keep Yourself from Idols: The Rise of Conservative Evangelicalism Week 9-9. Roman Catholicism from the Second Spring to the Second Vatican Council 6

7 Week 10 - Churchquake: Christianity and the 1960s Revision Class: There will be a one hour revision session in semester week 36 on Thursday at 11am in STRAND K2.41 KINGS BLDG 3. Assessment (Study Abroad Students should also see Section 4 below) (a) Nature of assessment There is no formative assessment (i.e. assessment that students are expected to submit, but which does not count towards the final module mark), but only two compulsory elements of summative assessment, both of which contribute to the final module mark: 1 x 2500-word coursework essay, the title to be chosen from the list provided at the end of this module syllabus (worth 40% of the overall module mark). Do not formulate your own essay title. 1 x 2-hour unseen written examination, in which two questions must be answered, from a choice of at least five (worth 60% of the overall module mark. (b) Coursework essay deadline, revision class and examination period The deadline for the submission of the assessed coursework essay is 4pm on Monday 7 March 2016 You will then receive feedback on the submission on KEATS no later than Tuesday 29 March A one-hour revision class will be held in the first week of Semester 3 on Thursday at 11am in STRAND K2.41 KINGS BLDG. The examination will take place in Period II (May-June 2015). Recent past papers are now available in the relevant KEATS module area. (c) Scope of assessment Coursework essay questions generally relate to some topics covered in the first half of the module. Examination questions normally deal with most of the remaining topics, but care is taken to avoid overlap across both sets of questions. Some examination questions may be 7

8 formulated so as to encourage analysis, in the same answer, of topics that were investigated in different sessions, including those that fell early in the module, or to allow you to reflect on the period as a whole. (d) How to impress the examiners In the assessed coursework essay and final essay, successful students will need to demonstrate a nuanced grasp of any topic, an awareness of its historiographical context and an ability to describe in precisely and a capacity to develop a well-reasoned argument that is convincingly supported by reference to suitable evidence and is presented in a structured manner using clear English. Make sure that you consult the generic Undergraduate Marking Criteria document. Poor English (e.g. grammar, punctuation and spelling) will lead to loss of marks. Inadequate scholarly presentation of the assessed coursework essay (e.g. over the styles of footnotes/endnotes and bibliography) will similarly be penalized. The class teaching and the listed secondary literature will allow you to write good answers to the set questions. Nonetheless, the examiners will also be looking to reward answers that explore particularly carefully the sources available (not necessarily just textual sources) for the particular problem, engaging in close reading of them and quoting from them as appropriate. The discussion of the selected KEATS sources in class should provide clues on how to do this. 4. Essential information: How do I submit my essay? The Faculty of Arts & Humanities cover-sheet needs to be the first page of the submitted essays; please follow this link: The candidate number (e.g. W01234) on the cover-sheet needs to be accurate and of the present academic year. Your work cannot be attributed to you on the College systems, if this information is incomplete or wrong. The word limit includes all footnotes/endnotes, but excludes the bibliography, which you should provide. There is a 5% tolerance: no penalty will be incurred for essays that are up to 5% over the word limit. Beyond that tolerance band, two marks will be deducted for every 5% of excess words until 50% is reached. After 50%, three marks will normally be deducted for each further 5% of excess words. The MHRA/Harvard reference style has been adopted for this module. Please find the Quick Guide to Reference Styles in TRS in the TRS Handbook online. The presentation of your work, including the insertion of page numbers, quality of referencing and bibliographical information and the standard of English, has a strong bearing on the mark given for it. Submission BEFORE 4pm: Your work must be submitted via the assessment submission section of the KEATS area for the module, by the published deadline, i.e. before 4pm on the relevant day. Work with a TurnitIn time stamp of 4.00pm counts as a late 8

9 submission (see next point). Late submissions will be treated as follows: Unless an extension has been granted by the Chair of the UG Programme Board of Examiners on the basis of a Mitigating Circumstances Form (MCF), supplied with supporting evidence, or comes to be granted retrospectively: - Work submitted within 24 hours after the original deadline will be marked, but the mark for this element will be capped at the pass mark of 40%. - Work submitted more than 24 hours after the original deadline will not be marked, and the submission will receive a mark of zero. Mitigating Circumstances Forms: MCFs can be downloaded from the Policy Zone of the College website. Extensions retrospectively: An extension may be granted retrospectively, providing the MCF with supporting documentation is submitted no later than 7 days after the missed assessment and supporting documentation has been received no later than 21 days after the missed assessment. Please note that extensions are granted by the TRS Assessment Board Chair and NOT by individual module tutors. Plagiarism: Please make sure that you understand the College rules on plagiarism. Information is available at: and you should also have been enrolled on a KEATS plagiarism module. Oral presentations and plagiarism: The College s rules on plagiarism apply to oral presentations, handouts and Powerpoint presentations just as they do to written work submitted for assessment. You must acknowledge any and all sources used in presentations and accompanying material, and must present all material in your own words except for explicitly acknowledged quotations from others. Collusion also counts as misconduct. Think twice before circulating your work to other students. Marking: Your essays for this module will be assessed according to Model 3: Essays: First and second markers will apply the Faculty s Undergraduate Marking Criteria: Classroom presentation and participation are assessed in line with these Marking Criteria: 5. Essay Questions Please choose ONE question: 1. Recent critiques of secularization oblige historians to refine but not to abandon its application to modern British history. Discuss with reference to our period. 9

10 Readings: See primarily the suggested readings for week 1 (but also 2-3). 2. When and why did church-state relations cease to be a central issue in British politics? Readings: See the suggested readings for week 2 3. Why did so many Christians become preoccupied with social and humanitarian concerns in this period and with what consequences? Readings: See the suggested readings for week Which sciences proved most favourable to the defence of Christian beliefs in this period and why? Readings: See the suggested readings for week How effectively did Christians communicate their message in the age of mass media? Readings: See the suggested readings for week 5. MLL December