6 - Change and Continuity: Religion and National Identity in the 1920s

Summary

This book has argued that ideas of national religion were at the core of the Prayer Book controversy. The underlying question that surfaced at frequent points during 1927–28 regarded the role of the Church of England in national life, and, more broadly, the relationship between religion and national identity. The discussions and disputes usually revolved around English identity; however, parliament's involvement and the tendency of some Protestants, particularly Evangelicals, to point to the Protestant foundations of the British polity and the common religion of the home nations, meant that the broad identity of Britain was also widely debated. The bishops’ proposals sounded a shrill alarm for many Protestants, both Anglican and non-Anglican, which signalled the Catholicisation of the established Church and a ‘national peril’ necessitating an urgent call to arms. This final chapter contextualises these conclusions, assessing their contours within the wider landscape of English and British society during the period and discussing how they might impinge on broader themes and interpretations of national identity and character. The first section will examine the implications that the revision controversy might have for the understanding of the Church of England's role in national life during the period. Secondly, the ongoing and vibrant historiographical discussions regarding the national identity and national character of the English and British in the 1920s are evaluated in the light of 1927–28. The final and most substantial portion of the chapter is devoted to considering the resilience of anti-Catholicism, and its strange resurgence in the 1920s, asking whether conventional narratives regarding the demise of Protestant national identity in British society need to be tempered.

The Church of England and the ‘National Community’

In his influential Citizenship, Community and the Church of England (2004), Matthew Grimley examined liberal Anglican theories of the Church, State and the ‘national community’, concluding that the Church remained a significant component of and formative influence on English national identity during the interwar period. As Grimley explained, liberal Anglican theorists, such as William Temple, Ernest Barker and A. D. Lindsay, all espoused the idea of a national community – which was distinct from both the established Church and the State – and emphasised the Christian dimensions to its common character, morality and identity. The analysis of the present study certainly underlines this general assertion regarding the importance of the Church of England to national life in the 1920s.