The regenerators : social criticism in late Victorian English Canada / Ramsay Cook ; with a new foreword by Carl Berger and a new introduction by Donald Wright.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cook, Ramsay, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Church and social problems--Canada--History--19th century.

Church and social problems.

Social reformers--Canada--History--19th century.

Social reformers.

Secularism--Canada--History--19th century.

Secularism.

Christian sociology--Canada--History--19th century.

Christian sociology.

Social gospel.

History.

Canada.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xlvii, 291 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Toronto : University of Toronto Press, 2016.

Summary:

"A crisis of faith confronted many Canadian Protestants in the late nineteenth century. With their religious beliefs challenged by the new biological sciences and historical criticism of the Bible, they turned from personal salvation to the dire social problems of the industrial age. The Regenerators explores the nature of social criticism in this era and its complex ties to the religious thinking of the day, showing how the path blazed by nineteenth-century religious liberals led not to the Kingdom of God on earth, but, ironically, to the secular city."-- Provided by publisher.

"The winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for Non-Fiction when it was first published in 1985, The Regenerators became an instant classic for its fascinating portraits of evolutionists, rationalists, spiritualists, socialists, and free thinkers before the turn of the century. This new edition features an introduction by historian and biographer Donald Wright."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1 Introduction 3

2 The Roots of Modernism: Darwinism and the Higher Critics 7

3 The Anxieties of a Moral Interregnum 26

4 Positivism, Secular Thoughts, and the Religion of Humanity 41

5 Spiritualism, Science of the Earthly Paradise 65

6 Richard Maurice Bucke: Religious Heresiarch and Utopian 86

7 Toward a Christian Political Economy 105

8 'A Republic of God, a Christian Republic' 123

9 'The New City of Friends': Evolution, Theosophy, and Socialism 152

10 'Was Christ, After All, a Social Reformer?' 174

11 The Modernist Pilgrim's Progress 196

12 The Sacred Becomes the Secular 228.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-273) and index.

ISBN:

9781442629196

1442629193

OCLC:

948552584