Overview

Although the Victorians were awash in texts, the Bible was such a pervasive and dominant presence that they may fittingly be thought of as 'a people of one book'. They habitually read the Bible, quoted it, adopted its phraseology as their own, thought in its categories, and viewed their own lives and experiences through a scriptural lens. This astonishingly deep, relentless, and resonant engagement with the Bible was true across the religious spectrum from Catholics to Unitarians and beyond. The scripture-saturated culture of nineteenth-century England is displayed by Timothy Larsen in a series of lively case studies of representative figures ranging from the Quaker prison reformer Elizabeth Fry to the liberal Anglican pioneer of nursing Florence Nightingale to the Baptist preacher C. H. Spurgeon to the Jewish author Grace Aguilar. Even the agnostic man of science T. H. Huxley and the atheist leaders Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant were thoroughly and profoundly preoccupied with the Bible. Serving as a tour of the diversity and variety of nineteenth-century views, Larsen's study presents the distinctive beliefs and practices of all the major Victorian religious and sceptical traditions from Anglo-Catholics to the Salvation Army to Spiritualism, while simultaneously drawing out their common, shared culture as a people of one book.

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9780199667819

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Reviews

<br> In his erudite treatment of these dozen representative figures, Larsen, the McManis Professor of Christian Thought at Wheaton College, offers a virtual survey of the Victorian religious landscape. --Journal of Religion<p><br> Insightful and well-researched...The book will be useful for undergraduate students, graduate students, and scholars in the field, and the volume is highly recommended for libraries. --Religious Studies Review<p><br> This is a painstakingly, formidably researched study: archives and collections of the papers and letters of several of the figures discussed have been minutely examined, as have countless newspapers and journals, magazines and tracts. Professor Larsen must have immersed himself in hundreds of sermons, biblical commentaries, essays, reviews and biographies to put together the successive case histories. And he has listened, attentively, to these different voices. The result is a recuperative work of patient synthesis, and I cannot imagine the scholar of nineteenth-century religion or literature who would not learn something new from nearly every page. --Religion and Literature<p><br>

This is a painstakingly, formidably researched study: archives and collections of the papers and letters of several of the figures discussed have been minutely examined, as have countless newspapers and journals, magazines and tracts. Professor Larsen must have immersed himself in hundreds of sermons, biblical commentaries, essays, reviews and biographies to put together the successive case histories. And he has listened, attentively, to these different voices. The result is a recuperative work of patient synthesis, and I cannot imagine the scholar of nineteenth-century religion or literature who would not learn something new from nearly every page. Chris Walsh, Religion and Literature In his erudite treatment of these dozen representative figures, Larsen, the McManis Professor of Christian Thought at Wheaton College, offers a virtual survey of the Victorian religious landscape. Journal of Religion

This is a rich and thoroughly enjoyable book English Historical Review Another significant contribution to this field, Timothy Larsens learned A People of One Book: The Bible and the Victorians successfully demonstrates the diversity of the ways that Victorians thought about and interpreted the Scriptures. The Years Work in Englishs Studies For demonstrating the surprising longevity and breadth of the Bibles cultural and linguistic influence, for its imaginative mapping of everyday Bible reading, and for introducing readers to a treasure trove of little-known primary sources, A People of One Book makes a significant contribution to the field. Nineteenth-Century Literature This is a painstakingly, formidably researched study: archives and collections of the papers and letters of several of the figures discussed have been minutely examined, as have countless newspapers and journals, magazines and tracts. Professor Larsen must have immersed himself in hundreds of sermons, biblical commentaries, essays, reviews and biographies to put together the successive case histories. And he has listened, attentively, to these different voices. The result is a recuperative work of patient synthesis, and I cannot imagine the scholar of nineteenth-century religion or literature who would not learn something new from nearly every page. Chris Walsh, Religion and Literature In his erudite treatment of these dozen representative figures, Larsen, the McManis Professor of Christian Thought at Wheaton College, offers a virtual survey of the Victorian religious landscape. Journal of Religion

Author Information

Timothy Larsen is McManis Professor of Christian Thought, Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and has been a Visiting Fellow, Trinity College, Cambridge. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books including Crisis of Doubt: Honest Faith in Nineteenth-Century England (Oxford University Press), which was named Book of the Year by Books & Culture.

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