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The English were never an overtly religious lot

Undeterred, Peter Ackroyd takes us on a breezy tour of the nation’s religious history, from the Venerable Bede to the present

24 February 2024

9:00 AM

24 February 2024

9:00 AM

The English Soul: The Faith of the Nation Peter Ackroyd

Reaktion Books, pp.376, 20

Generalisations about national characteristics are open to question. Nevertheless, the overwhelming impression one gets from reading the major works of English literature, or from studying the famous English men and women of politics, the military or the academic world, is that the English have not been an especially religious lot.

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As the US decides, so can you

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