Is God Still an Englishman?: How We Lost Our Faith (But Found New Soul) [Kindle Edition]

Is God Still An Englishman? is a made up of three seamlessly interwoven strands - a social and political history of the British people's increasing disillusionment with authority, government and institutions over the last 30 years; a history of the UK church over the same period and how this is related to wider social change; and a startlingly honest and open account of Cole Moreton's own personal religious journey. Many of the events described are still sharp in the nation's shared memory and consciousness. Moreton's ability to identify how different social trends knit together, and to pinpoint key events that fed change in the 'atmosphere' of the nation, are insightful and persuasive. It's also a beautifully written and very readable book - stimulating, funny, touching and discomforting. Recommended not only for those interested in recent church history, but anyone wanting to delve deeper into the evolution of the British collective conscience over recent decades.

Is God Still An Englishman?
How we lost our faith but found new soul.
Cole Moreton, Little Brown, 2010

If you only read one book about religion this year, make sure it's this one. Cole Moreton has produced a fantastic social history of popular faith in England over the last thirty years. It begins with the Royal Wedding of Charles and Diana in 1981 and takes in every major event from then till now, tracing how each event has been a nail in the coffin of the established Church of England as the arbiter of the nation's spiritual beliefs. In 1981, the great English God was still more or less in control though his days were numbered even then. Since the Elizabethan Settlement in 1559 when the Church of England was formally established defined but the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity in pretty much the form we knew it in the 80s. The tenets of this national religion, were fair play, the stiff upper lip and knowing one's place in the great scheme of things. Over the last 30 years, Moreton maintains, the high place of this God, his national church and the Establishment which maintained them have been gradually eroded, till Anglicanism is just one of the possible faiths on offer in the post-modern market place and has lost its distinctiveness, splintering into several different tribes, all fighting for the dwindling stock of believers and adherents.

Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. While this great national faith gave the nation a shape and form which held it together over five hundred years, it had become stifling, crippling creativity and new expressions of faith. Moreton outlines how the Soul of England is changing to become more accepting, more honest, less rigid and buttoned-up. In the process he tells his own story of being let down but the certainty-riddled faith of his youth and his search, still not entirely over, for something more real.

The book is powerfully written in an informal style, taking chart hits for chapter headings, yet it is a serious piece of social history which gives us an entirely consistent interpretation of the events of the past thirty years and the transformation of the God of the English from Colonel Blimp and sends him out naked for a gambol in the forest. The kinds of Christians who still pine after the certainty of their youth will no doubt find its conclusions unsatisfactory, but they cannot deny its argument and will need to take it into account in any self-assessment they attempt in the future. For the rest of us, this book is a Progressive Patriot of the Spirit and a rallying call for a more open-ended truth and a spiritual search which, like the spirit, blows where she will.

Derek A Collins, Editor, Another Plane

This is such a well written book. It opens up events in recent English history and questions the way we see God. This is a great read for anyone.