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The 1960s were a time of explosive religious change. In the Christian churches, it was a time of innovation, from the "new theology" and "new morality" of Bishop Robinson to the evangelicalism of the Charismatic Movement, and of charismatic leaders such as Pope John XXIII and Martin Luther King. But it was also a time of rapid social and cultural change when Christianity faced challenges from Eastern religions, from Marxism and feminism, and above all from new "affluent" lifestyles. Hugh McLeod tells in detail, using oral history, how these movements and conflicts were experienced in England, but because the Sixties were an international phenomenon, he looks at other countries as well, especially the U.S. and France. McLeod explains what happened to religion in the 1960s, why it happened, and how the events of that decade shaped the rest of the 20th century.
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THE RELIGIOUS CRISIS OF THE 1960
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The Religious Crisis of the 1960s H U G H ML E O D
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Great Clarendon Street, Oxford 2 6 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Hugh McLeod 2007 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Biddles Ltd., King’s Lynn, Norfolk ISBN 978–0–19–929825–9 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Acknowledgements This book began as the 2004 Vonhoff Lectures at the University of Groningen. I would like to thank all those whose attendance at the lectures, participation in discussion, and provision of generous hospitality helped to make it such an enjoyable experience for me. In particular, I would like to thank Mr Henk Vonhoff, who as Queen’s Commissioner in the Province of Groningen was instrumental in the establishment of the lectures and after whom they are named; Jan Bremmer and Arië Molendijk, who as, respectively, Dean of the Faculty of Theology and Professor of Church History, were principally responsible for inviting me and for organizing the lectures; and Mathilde van Dijk, who introduced me to the province of Groningen. There are three other individuals or groups of people I would like especially to thank. First, I want to acknowledge the inspiration and stimulus provided by Callum Brown: we have often reached different conclusions, but without the stimulus derived from Callum’s books and from conversations with him it is quite p