Religion and National Identity: Scotland and Wales c.1700-2000

(, 1st revision of 2nd New edition)

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While the Christian faith has played a major part in the history of both Wales and Scotland, there has been little previous work looking at their histories in a comparative manner. In the light of the establishment of the Welsh Assembly and the Scottish Parliament, this issue is of particular contemporary importance. This collection discusses religion in Scotland and Wales from a historical perspective and examines the contribution of religion to the sense of national identity in the period from the Evangelical Revival to the present day. It suggests that the histories of the two nations are only understood when the religious dimension is taken seriously. The various essays collected here offer new perspectives on particular denominations, from the Scottish Covenanters to Welsh Methodism, as well as discussing individual figures such as Howell Harris, Edward Irving and Arthur Price, in order to examine the complex relationship between language, national identity and religion. Religion and National Identity is an original and timely contribution, not only to the religious histories of Wales and Scotland, but also to the collective history of Great Britain in the modern period.

Reviews

'...this is a valuable contribution to the field of modern British religious history, and will be a useful resource for students looking for alternative ways of approaching the twin ideas of religion and national identity.' The Innes Review

Author Bio

Robert Pope is Lecturer in Contemporary and Applied Theology at the University of Wales, Bangor. He is the author of Building Jerusalem: Nonconformity, Labour and the Social Question in Wales, 1906-1939 (1998) and Seeking God's Kingdom: the Nonconformist Social Gospel in Wales, 1906-1939 (1999).