Abstract
In this comprehensive and engaging account of the history of the Church of England, Jeremy Morris offers a reliable and extremely clear survey of a complex and contested institution that still survives as an established Church in a secular state. To offer a complete history of the Church of England from the time of Henry VIII is no mean feat: it requires immersion not simply in the history of religion, but also in the social, political and cultural fabric of a society in constant transition. Morris is to be congratulated in his ability to weigh up scholarship and reach sensible conclusions, while at the same time presenting a lively narrative. What emerges is a Church that was never as settled as many of its apologists might have wished for: each of Morris’s three periods (‘The age of the monarch’ to 1688, ‘The age of the oligarchy’ to 1832, ‘The age of the people’ to the present) is characterized by conflict over identity, especially over the implications of the Protestant inheritance and the legacy of Catholic order. While adopting a broadly chronological and narrative form, Morris adds some additional chapters that focus on such questions as architecture, music and worship, which are not always given due weight in histories of a Church that has always been tied up with politics and power.
Even though Morris is most at home in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, his accounts of the highly volatile first 200 years after the separation from Rome are based on the best of modern scholarship and he shows an ability to rise above some of the polemic that has characterized some of the recent discussion. A similar approach is taken in the final chapters, which bring the story up to date: the different sides of the secularization debate are carefully considered. What is clear is that there are no easy answers in church history. Overall, what emerges from the narrative is a Church that ultimately failed to reform itself in any thoroughgoing way and instead relied on piecemeal change that was often too little and too late. Its greatest failing, however, was its inability, despite a number of exceptions, to make significant inroads into the labouring classes: the people’s church of the title was the Church of an English people exemplified by their governing classes (which goes a long way to explaining the success of nonconformity). Like many broad accounts, The People’s Church ends with a postscript on the future: the hope lies in the survival of a ‘small’ Church as long as the state can take on the burden of maintaining its historic buildings.
If I have a criticism of the book, it is that I would have preferred a bit more historical colour to flesh out the narrative to add to the many illustrations. That said, the ‘judicious Mr Morris’ has provided us with an authoritative, readable and nuanced account of Anglican history. It is to be hoped that it will be read by the current crop of leaders who seldom seem to learn from the lessons of history.