Urban renaissance and neighbourhood renewal (1997–2010)

This article argues that the contemporary renewal of religious life requires that ‘fresh expressions of church’ must also and equally encourage ‘fresh expressions of believing’. The first part draws on the Schleiermacher tradition to lay out the groundwork for the kind of approach to theology that might allow such fresh expressions to begin to emerge: a theology founded in experience, shaped and formed relationally, and intrinsically reflective and critical. The second part of the article identifies some ecclesial models that could be hospitable to the nurture of fresh expressions of believing, and proposes resources drawing on traditions of mysticism, of praxis, and of deconstruction. Churches may form their identity around a mission to deepen and radicalise personal and corporate spirituality, collaborative social praxis for justice and neighbourhood renewal, or experimental postmodern styles of gathering, culturally eclectic but institutionally minimalist.

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TWO RENAISSANCES: URBAN POLITICAL CULTURE IN POST-REFORMATION ENGLAND RECONSIDERED

The Historical Journal ◽

10.1017/s0018246x01001546 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 44 (1) ◽

pp. 239-267 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

PHILIP WITHINGTON

Keyword(s):

Eighteenth Century ◽

Seventeenth Century ◽

Sixteenth Century ◽

Political Culture ◽

Social Relations ◽

Urban Renaissance ◽

The Social ◽

Reformation England ◽

Long Eighteenth Century ◽

Cultural Historiography

This review reconsiders the place and importance of urban political culture in England between c. 1550 and c. 1750. Relating recent work on urban political culture to trends in political, social, and cultural historiography, it argues that England's towns and boroughs underwent two ‘renaissances’ over the course of the period: a ‘civic renaissance’ and the better-known ‘urban renaissance’. The former was fashioned in the sixteenth century; however, its legacy continued to inform political thought and practice over 150 years later. Similarly, although the latter is generally associated with ‘the long eighteenth century’, its attributes can be traced to at least the Elizabethan era. While central to broader transitions in post-Reformation political culture, these ‘renaissances’ were crucial in restructuring the social relations and social identity of townsmen and women. They also constituted an important but generally neglected dynamic of England's seventeenth-century ‘troubles’.

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The ‘urban renaissance’ and the mob: rethinking civic improvement over the long eighteenth century

Structures and Transformations in Modern British History ◽

10.1017/cbo9780511973901.003 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 54-73 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Emma Griffin

Keyword(s):

Eighteenth Century ◽

Urban Renaissance ◽

Long Eighteenth Century

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