Chris Owen Books

Owen writes as you would expect a tweed-coated cambridge prof to write. While definitely worth a look, his assumptions which must be deduced, are questionable. A bit of an attitude toward the Catholic Church is obvious, especially the Papacy (he is an Anglican, perhaps?), and he seems a little too amicable toward socialism to take all his work as evenhanded.
As well, other reviews on this page are right to mention that he seems to not quite make his point. Perhaps having 30 years hindsight gives todays reader a more critical view. The book is well written, but is he right?

Owen Chadwick's work examines the meaning and processes of secularization in European society. Chadwick makes some illuminating insights into the various dimensions of secularization. His style, however, is somewhat convoluted and confusing. It requires close reading to extract the important theses in this book.

Chadwick divides his work into two sections corresponding to the two dimensions of secularization--the social and the intellectual. In each section Chadwick makes important contributions to understanding various figures and movements--Marx, Voltaire, August Comte, anticlericalism and critical historiography, to name just a few. Among his most important theses, he postulates that nationalism was a far greater force for secularization than, for example, science. This was certainly true in Italy, where the papacy was a great obstacle to unification of that country.

Chadwick summarizes that the most palpable effect of secularization is not necessarily a shift in intellectual thinking, or even in social action, but in a loss of "providence." After the various advances in natural science, critical historiography, and moral philosophy, the average person no longer felt the strong presence of God in the world. There was no longer the sense that God "counted the hairs on every person's head." This effect was the most important of the secularization of Europe in the nineteenth century, more so than any overt changes in the intellectual or political life of Europe.

This book is dense, as Chadwick intertwines his various theses and examinations of figures in a complex narrative. His prose is poetic and flowing, but he is not interested in merely in laying out facts. He often presumes knowledge of persons and events without any exposition, and dives straight into his penetrating analysis. It takes patience and some background knowledge to fully understand this book, but it is well worth the effort.

One cannot argue with the erudition and detail in this book, yet I can't help but feel that all of that studiousness and fact finding was ultimately ineffective. Chadwick spent so much time focusing in on minute detail that I lacked any sense of the general scope of his essay. The narrative was lacking in fluidity and overly referential and therfore difficult to get through. If you are in search for clues to shed light on why European society became increasingly secular I would skip this book and read Peter Gay's two volume masterpiece on the Enlightenment. Gay gives a much more compelling account of the ideas that set Europe, and the world on it's modern (secular) course.

Chadwick's study on the Secularization of the European mind in the 19th century is an exceptionally well-written and intensely studied analysis of a vast topic. He does an excellent job of disproving many erred historical theories. The alternative theories he offers are typically well supported; however, some are based on unsound assumption and unfounded generalizations. Perhaps the most noted is his downplaying of the influence of Darwinism. Overall this book is very good and is recommended for anyone interested in the subject. It is not bathroom reading.

The theory and supporting arguments here are outstanding, but a bit overdone for the average guy (or for me, at least). This isn't light reading - page after page go into supporting evidence for ideas which could have been put just as convincingly in about a tenth as many pages. I'm not a poli-sci student, sociologist, Marxist, or philosopher, though; I'm sure that for those whose interest in works like this run a few feet wide and a mile deep, this book is great.