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Disturbing the Complacency of Religion'? The Evangelical Crusades of Dr Billy Graham and Father Patrick Peyton in Britain, 1951-54

Bibliographic Data

ID12239188
AuthorsA Harris (0000-0002-4195-5255), Abram L Harris (0000-0003-1376-8409, University of Oxford, corresponding author), M Spence, M Anne Spence (0009-0007-4843-4640, University of Cambridge, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume18
Issue4
Pages481-513
Publication date2007-07-20
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueTwentieth Century British History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0955-2359 • E-ISSN: 1477-4674
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/tcbh/hwm027
OpenAlexW2107640274
LanguageEN
Citations received2

This article explores some little-examined aspects of the widespread revival of religion in Britain in the 1950s through a close examination of the evangelistic crusades of the Baptist minister Dr Billy Graham and the Irish-American Roman Catholic priest, Fr Patrick Peyton. Against the backdrop of the ‘secularization debate’, which continues to dominate the existing historiography of the period, it suggests that a re-examination of the role of religion in English society might provide new and valuable insights into the broader social and cultural preoccupations of the post-war era. Employing a cross-denominational approach it argues that, much to the surprise of some contemporary commentators, the considerable appeal of these religious crusaders lay in their ability to articulate common fears and anxieties about the individual, the family, and Cold War society within a religious context. Moreover, from a contemporary historical perspective, it questions whether the appeal of Graham's and Peyton's evangelism is better viewed not as an instance of an ‘illusory’ religious revival of old-fashioned Christianity before a plunge into ‘secularism’, but rather as an illustration of a broader and hitherto unexplored shift in post-war England towards new configurations of religiosity

Aesthetics · Appeal · Christianity · Context (archaeology · Evangelism · Great Awakening · Historiography · Irish · Islam · Period (music · Political science · Religiosity · Secularism · Secularization · Sociology · Surprise · Theology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development · History · Law · Philosophy · Religious Studies

  • The International Context of Secularization in England

    Open Access•Alister Chapman•Journal of British Studies•2015

  • Speaking for Whom? The 1971 Festival of Light and the Search for the ‘Silent Majority’

    Amy C Whipple•Contemporary British History•2010

Unique citing works2
Citations per year0,13
Citation span2010 - 2015 (6)
Citation velocityhistorical
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 2

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