- Hardcover: 228 pages
- Publisher: OUP Oxford; First Edition, First Impression edition (26 Jan 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0199287929
- ISBN-13: 978-0199287925
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 13.8 x 2 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,494,491 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
Christianity and Social Service in Modern Britain
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Frank Prochaska has made an impressive contribution to late modern British history (Andrew Chandler, Journal of Ecclesiastical History )
A thoroughly enjoyable book: a highly informative history and a refreshing polemic. (Terry Philpot, The Tablet )
This is a well written book. Any future studies on the decline of Christianity in modern Britain should include Prochaska's argument. (Andreas Whittam Smith, The Church Times )
The issues raised here could not be more important to the future of British democracy ... Each part of this thrilling analysis should disturb the dreary complacency now engulfing the debate on the future of British democracy. (Frank Field, The Spectator )
...A very welcome interpretive study... (Jeremy Black, The Social Affairs Unit )
A thoroughly enjoyable book: a highly informative history and a refreshing polemic. (Terry Philpot, The Tablet )
This is a well written book. Any future studies on the decline of Christianity in modern Britain should include Prochaska's argument. (Andreas Whittam Smith, The Church Times )
The issues raised here could not be more important to the future of British democracy ... Each part of this thrilling analysis should disturb the dreary complacency now engulfing the debate on the future of British democracy. (Frank Field, The Spectator )
...A very welcome interpretive study... (Jeremy Black, The Social Affairs Unit )
Jeremy Black, The Social Affairs Unit
"...a very welcome interpretive study..."
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
In the spring of 1810 Sarah Martin, a 19-year-old seamstress, attended a sermon at the New Meeting-House in Great Yarmouth. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
In the spring of 1810 Sarah Martin, a 19-year-old seamstress, attended a sermon at the New Meeting-House in Great Yarmouth. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
almost heartbreaking
30 Mar 2009
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book gives a detailed account of the pre-eminent role played by Christianity and the churches in meeting a sweeping array of social needs, from nursing to education, from poor relief to mothers' meetings, during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Prochaska's argument, in brief, is that the arrogation of those roles by the state through the taxation system did more to secularise Britain than anything else. Prochaska makes it plain from the start that he is not a religious believer, and has no personal axe to grind on this matter. But I am, and I do. And the story he tells is almost heartbreaking. As taxes and 'state provision' rose, so the charitable instincts of the populace were progressively strangled. As the meeting of needs was depersonalised and bureaucratised, so individuals became the clients of the state -- and less self-reliant, more self-assertive, and less pious into the bargain. Prochaska also shows that the state takeover meant, among other things, a male takeover of social services; most of the Christian volunteers had been women; most of the government bureaucrats, men. The central argument of the statists was that government intervention would mean greater uniformity of service, and would be less hit-and-miss; services would be doled out on the basis of need, without the making of moral judgments. By now it has long since become clear that the making of such judgments is precisely what is needed, and that benefits subsidise fecklessness as often as they meet real needs. And, what is just as much to the point, convey no sense of obligation nor imply any need for gratitude in the recipient: the benefits are a 'right'. So who needs God?
This book is an insightful guide to what has happened in Britain -- and a cautionary tale about the fate of America, if the statist road is travelled too far. Superb stuff.
This book is an insightful guide to what has happened in Britain -- and a cautionary tale about the fate of America, if the statist road is travelled too far. Superb stuff.
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > History > Britain & Ireland
- Books > History > Cultural History
- Books > History > Europe
- Books > History > Religious History > Christianity
- Books > History > Social & Economic History > Health & Welfare
- Books > History > World History
- Books > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > History
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Academic Sociology
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
