Overview

A survey of Welsh Christianity from its origins in Roman Britain to the present. Christianity has played an enormous role in the history of Wales and in the defining and shaping of Welsh identity over the past two thousand years. Biblical place names, an urban and rural landscape littered with churches, chapels, crosses, and sacred sites, a bardic and literary tradition deeply imbued with Christian themes in both the Welsh and English languages, and the songs sung by tens of thousands of rugby fans all hint at a Christian presence that was once universal. Yet for many people in contemporary Wales, the story of the development of Christianity in the country remains little known. Aimed at the general reader, this is the first single-volume history of Welsh Christianity from its origins in Roman Britain to the present. Drawing on the expertise of four leading historians of the Welsh Christian tradition, it offers a succinct, clear, and accessible account of the development of Christianity in Wales in its Catholic, Protestant, and Nonconformist forms and will be the perfect introduction to the subject.

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9781786838216

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Reviews

A distinguished team of expert historians has produced an outstanding book that should please those already knowledgeable about the Welsh Christian past but also, with its accessible prose in service to crystal-clear presentation, attract readers new to the subject. --Mark Noll, author of 'The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind' In this authoritative and engaging history of Christianity in Wales, two experts explain pre-Reformation developments with full use of archaeological evidence, and two more carry the story from the Reformation down to the present day. This is an illuminating study based on up-to-date scholarship. --David Bebbington, author of 'Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s' The history of Welsh Christianity and the history of the Welsh language in any recognizable form begin at very much the same point . . . This book will be a work to which the reader can turn to understand both Welsh society and the resources of the Christian tradition across the centuries. --Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury

Books have been written on particular denominations before, but there has been nothing as comprehensive and wide-ranging as this volume. It is both scholarly and accessible. --Barry Morgan, Archbishop of Wales 2003-17 Journal of Anglican History A distinguished team of expert historians has produced an outstanding book that should please those already knowledgeable about the Welsh Christian past but also, with its accessible prose in service to crystal-clear presentation, attract readers new to the subject. --Mark Noll, author of 'The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind' In this authoritative and engaging history of Christianity in Wales, two experts explain pre-Reformation developments with full use of archaeological evidence, and two more carry the story from the Reformation down to the present day. This is an illuminating study based on up-to-date scholarship. --David Bebbington, author of 'Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s' The history of Welsh Christianity and the history of the Welsh language in any recognizable form begin at very much the same point . . . This book will be a work to which the reader can turn to understand both Welsh society and the resources of the Christian tradition across the centuries. --Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury

Author Information

General readership: the book's introductory nature will ensure that it will appeal to the widest possible readership. We envisage it filling a similar function as John Davies', A History of Wales (1992) does for Welsh history more generally. Students beginning the exploration of Wales' Christian past, either at advanced level in school or at undergraduate level. Each of the Welsh universities teaches courses on the history of Wales for which this book will prove indispensable. The substantial numbers training for various forms of Christian ministry in Wales today. This includes those in formal training, and the large number of people on part-time courses. For example, 'Momentum' (held in Aberystwyth) currently has 65 registered students doing a module on Christianity in Wales (taught by David Ceri Jones). Wider international readership to whom the Christian history of Wales is little known.

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