A History of the English Parish
Subtitle: The Culture of Religion from Augustine to Victoria
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: March 13, 2000
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 619
ISBN-13: 9780521633482
Subjects: Ecclesiology & Church government; Social history; Parishes; Europe - Great Britain - General; Church And Society; Great Britain - History; Religion; History - General History; History: World; United Kingdom, Great Britain; Christianity - History - General; Christianity - Theology - Ecclesiology; History / Great Britain; Parishes--England--History; Christianity and culture; Church history; England; History
First sentence: THE PARISH was from the Middle Ages until late in the nineteenth century the basic territorial unit in the organisation of this country.
Description: "Most writings on church history have been concerned mainly with church hierarchy, and with theology, liturgy and canon law. This book looks at the church 'from below', from the lowest stratum of its organisation - the parish - in which the church building is seen as the parishioners' handiwork and as a reflection of local popular culture.".

"The book discusses in turn the origin and development of the system of precisely defined parishes, their function - in terms of economics and personnel - and the church fabric which embodied the aspirations of parishioners, who saw the church more as an expression of their cultural and social hopes than as the embodiment of their faith. The book ends with the failure of the parish to meet all its obligations - social, governmental and religious - from the late eighteenth century onwards."--BOOK JACKET.