Steve Bruce is one of Britain’s best-known sociologists of religion. Over a career spanning four decades, he has become a noted expert on the relationship between religion and politics as well as vocal defender of the secularization theory. Bruce calls British Gods an “end-of-career summation study” (vi) and in many ways it continues ideas that he has outlined in previous publications. The central argument underlying the book is that not only has religious adherence declined significantly in Britain since the mid-nineteenth century, but that its power and prestige has similarly crumbled. Throughout, Bruce draws not only upon the quantitative data demonstrating this national decline but also localized case studies from across the country.
British Gods covers a range of topics. These include the decline of widespread elite patronage of local churches; the changing social roles of the Christian clergy; the rise of the Charismatic and Black Pentecostal movements; the growth...
University of California Press