Concerned here broadly with the period 1829-59, Professor Chadwick writes of the church’s precarious position at the start of the period, and the problems of dissent; the Whig reform of the Church by the ministries of Peel and Melbourne; the Oxford Movement, the influence of Newman and the development of ritual; the relations of church and government under Lord John Russell; the growth of the seven principal dissenting bodies; the theory and practice of Church and State at mid-century, and the troubles that arose over eucharistic worship; and finally the unsettlement of faith and the several attempts at restatement at the close of the period.The history is completed in The Victorian Church, Part II 1860-1901.''One of our liveliest and most learned historians . . . he has written the most instructive, trustworthy and enjoyable history of the subject that has ever appeared.''The Sunday Times''This is an amazing book, notable for conveying factual information in a form which commends and compels intense interest throughout.''The Times Educational Supplement''The Style of this brilliant book lies not in its treatment of the ideas of the greatest but in a full-blooded portrayal of English religion in its totality . . . A work of magisterial scholarship, presented with the art of the literary craftsman, it will serve both as a guide and a quarry for students of modern ecclesiastical history for many years to come.''The English Historical Review''Professor Chadwick is to be warmly praised for both these volumes, a fitting monument to one of the most remarkable periods in the history of Western Religion.''Downside ReviewReverend Professor Owen Chadwick is a renowned Christian scholar and church historian. He is a former Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge and also served as Vice-Chancellor of the University. He also served as Master of Selwyn, College Cambridge from 1956-1983. Chadwick is an ordained Anglican Priest and was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1982.