New publication: Parliament, the law and the Church of England

We are delighted to announce the publication of a new book, The Church of England and British politics since 1900, published by Boydell and Brewer. Peter Webster has contributed a chapter on the changing relationship between Parliament and the Church in the crucial decades after the Second World War.

From the introduction:

Though the facade of the relationship between Crown, parliament and Church remained unaltered, a host of changes both large and small between 1943 and 1974 combined to hollow out the structure behind that facade. By means of a long sequence of legislation presented to parliament, the state ceded to the Church greater control of its worship and doctrine, the discipline and deployment of its clergy, its organizational structure of parishes, and of its buildings and other property. Taken together, these changes constitute a profound shift in the nature of the Church-state relationship in England.

There’s a summary version of the chapter on Peter Webster’s blog.