'For much of the twentieth century, especially in the thirty years after the end of the Second World War, Cambridge theology was no mere academic ghetto. David Thompson himself recalls the intellectual excitement of the early 1960s, when the questions raised by the Cambridge theologians - and their manner of raising them - were able to capture the minds and imaginations of a generation about to transform British society. As an historian, Thompson knows that such moments do not arrive from nowhere, and that to understand the story and the significance of Cambridge theology in the twentieth century, one has to go back to the nineteenth. As might be expected, the great trio of Westcott, Lightfoot, and Hort feature prominently in his groundbreaking study, but their work too is contextualized by a series of figures and debates reaching back to the eighteenth century. A story that weaves its way through so many shifting and interrelated currents in national, Church, and university life, as well as touching on private histories of faith and loss of faith is not easy to summarize, but Thompson brings the passion of his protagonists to life. Cambridge theology itself emerges as equally hard to summarize: 'broad', tolerant, questioning, difficult, attentive to the validity of science and to the demands of new historical criticism - certainly; but, at the same time, often all too 'establishment' (until the arrival in the late-nineteenth century of the nonconformists); and, then again, repeatedly courageous in breaking the mould of easy conformism. This is a book that every British theologian should ponder, and it is only to be hoped that someone will now go and do likewise for Oxford!' Revd Canon George Pattison, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, University of Oxford, UK David Thompson draws on his extensive knowledge of the nineteenth century to ask whether it is possible to identify a 'Cambridge tradition' in nineteenth-century theology. The pattern that emerges is one that is increasingly characterized by enquiry and openness to the truth. Anyone who wishes to understand what made Cambridge what it is today will profit from this informative study. Morna Hooker, Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity Emerita, University of Cambridge, UK 'Clear, insightful, and well researched, this is an outstanding work of scholarship. ... Despite the passage of more than 100 years since the period he covers, his account at times has an amazingly contemporary ring to it. And it is all the better and more interesting for that.' Church Times '... provides an excellent overview of the development of theology in one university during the long nineteenth century, replete as those years were with critical change.' Baptist Quarterly 'In this well-written and ground-breaking volume of theological history, David Thompson offers a detailed and perceptive account of Cambridge theology in a period of rapid change.' Journal of Theological Studies 'A welcome addition to our understanding of elite Christian thought in Britain from the French Revolution to the Great War... There are numerous finds to delight readers in these rich chapters.' Victorian Studies 'This volume is a refreshing contribution to Victorian intellectual and religious history because it examines the story of Cambridge rather than Oxford theology. ... Thompson has done the study of Victorian religious thought and intellectual history a great good service and we stand in his debt.' English Historical Review 'Unfailingly fascinating and instructive, David Thompson's dense but fluent narrative opens up a world of theologians and their work that will be unfamiliar to many students of religious thought and from which we have much to gain.' Ecclesiology
