Further Thoughts on Church Growth and Secularization
In: Journal of Religion in EuropeSearch for other papers by Steve Bruce in
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My original paper criticized a collection of essays on church growth in the United Kingdom for presenting case studies of growing congregations as refutation of the sociological secularization thesis. It argued that pockets of growth within overall decline could only refute the thesis if it required that the decline of interest in the churches be universal, even, and rapid, which it does not. David Goodhew has responded to that critique by re-stating his case and elaborating some examples. This paper clarifies the key point at issue by stressing the need for comprehensive rather than illustrative and selective evidence of religious behavior.
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Bruce Steve, Paisley: Religion and Politics in Northern Ireland (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).
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—— Politics and Religion in the UK (London: Routledge, 2011).
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Bruce Steve, , Glendinning Tony, , Paterson Iain, , & Rosie Michael, Sectarianism in Scotland (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004).
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Field Clive, “Church Growth in Britain since 1980,” British Religion in Numbers, http://www.brin.ac.uk/news/2012/church-growth-in-britain-since-1980 (accessed 9 June 2012).
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Goodhew David, “Church Growth in Britain: A Response to Steve Bruce,” Journal of Religion in Europe 6/3 (2013), 297–315.
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Goodhew David (ed.), Church Growth in Britain: 1980 to the Present (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2012).
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Guest Matthew, Negotiating Community: An Ethnographic Study Of An Evangelical Church, unpublished PhD thesis (Lancaster: Lancaster University, 2002).
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1)
David Goodhew, “Church Growth in Britain: A Response to Steve Bruce,” Journal of Religion in Europe 6/3 (2013), 297–315.
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2)
See for example, Steve Bruce, Paisley: Religion and Politics in Northern Ireland (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007); idem, Politics and Religion in the UK (London: Routledge, 2011); and Steve Bruce, Tony Glendinning, Iain Paterson, & Michael Rosie, Sectarianism in Scotland (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004).
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3)
David Goodhew (ed.), Church Growth in Britain: 1980 to the Present (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2012), inside title page.
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Further Thoughts on Church Growth and Secularization
In: Journal of Religion in EuropeSearch for other papers by Steve Bruce in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
My original paper criticized a collection of essays on church growth in the United Kingdom for presenting case studies of growing congregations as refutation of the sociological secularization thesis. It argued that pockets of growth within overall decline could only refute the thesis if it required that the decline of interest in the churches be universal, even, and rapid, which it does not. David Goodhew has responded to that critique by re-stating his case and elaborating some examples. This paper clarifies the key point at issue by stressing the need for comprehensive rather than illustrative and selective evidence of religious behavior.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 494 | 86 | 11 |
| Full Text Views | 116 | 2 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 80 | 3 | 0 |
