131-440 Religion and Society in Modern England

Usually admission to the postgraduate diploma or fourth-year honours in history.

In this subject students examine the phenomena of religion and religious experience in modern England. Students who successfully complete the subject should have a knowledge of issues such as the relationship between the political, the social and the ecclesiastical establishments in England's ancient regime; revival, religious dissent and political radicalism in the late 18th and 19th centuries; organised religion and 'Victorian values'; links between gender, sexuality and religion; Protestantism, Catholicism and England's 'Irish Question'; missions and imperialism, alternative spirituality and spiritualism; the churches and the Great War; permissiveness and the new morality in Swinging Britain; and secularisation and multiculturalism in the 20th century.

• show an advanced understanding of the changing knowledge base in the specialist area;

• be able to evaluate and synthesise the research and professional literature in the discipline;

• have an appreciation of the design, conduct and reporting of original research.

A class paper of 1000 words 10% (due during the semester) and a research essay on a negotiated topic of 4000 words 90% (due at the end of semester).