Manchester University Press
‘He saw the city and wept’
Abstract
This essay contests the general view, based on the processes of secularisation rooted in the nineteenth century, that religion and its moral teachings were incompatible with the modern city. Angela Connelly presents a detailed study of the Manchester and Salford Methodist Mission, with a focus on their Albert Hall and Aston Institute (1910), part of a wider movement in the denomination to reach out to the poorer working classes. She situates this in the context of Manchester’s other religious activities – church-going, Whit walks, philanthropy. She examines accounts of the various uses made of the Albert Hall, and shows that these included non-religious events, including musical performances and clubs for children, and concludes that the appearance of Christianity in other mundane settings (the street and the workplace) was not deemed incongruous.
Abstract
This essay contests the general view, based on the processes of secularisation rooted in the nineteenth century, that religion and its moral teachings were incompatible with the modern city. Angela Connelly presents a detailed study of the Manchester and Salford Methodist Mission, with a focus on their Albert Hall and Aston Institute (1910), part of a wider movement in the denomination to reach out to the poorer working classes. She situates this in the context of Manchester’s other religious activities – church-going, Whit walks, philanthropy. She examines accounts of the various uses made of the Albert Hall, and shows that these included non-religious events, including musical performances and clubs for children, and concludes that the appearance of Christianity in other mundane settings (the street and the workplace) was not deemed incongruous.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures and tables vii
- Notes on contributors xi
- Manchester 1
- Calico connections 11
- Counting the coppers 33
- Manufacturing the Renaissance 61
- The image of a well-ordered city 95
- ‘He saw the city and wept’ 123
- A case of cosmopolitanism 148
- Culture, participation and identity in contemporary Manchester 176
- Class conflict and the myth of cultural ‘inclusion’ in modern Manchester 194
- Index 217
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures and tables vii
- Notes on contributors xi
- Manchester 1
- Calico connections 11
- Counting the coppers 33
- Manufacturing the Renaissance 61
- The image of a well-ordered city 95
- ‘He saw the city and wept’ 123
- A case of cosmopolitanism 148
- Culture, participation and identity in contemporary Manchester 176
- Class conflict and the myth of cultural ‘inclusion’ in modern Manchester 194
- Index 217
