Friends, Neighbours, Sinners demonstrates the fundamental ways in which religious difference shaped English society in the first half of the eighteenth century. By examining the social subtleties of interactions between people of differing beliefs, and how they were mediated through languages and behaviours common to the long eighteenth century, Carys Brown examines the graduated layers of religious exclusivity that influenced everyday existence. By doing so, the book points towards a new approach to the social and cultural history of the eighteenth century, one that acknowledges the integral role of the dynamics of religious difference in key aspects of eighteenth-century life. This book therefore proposes not just to add to current understanding of religious coexistence in this period, but to shift our ways of thinking about the construction of social discourses, parish politics, and cultural spaces in eighteenth-century England.

'This book is … not only valuable for historians of religion seeking to understand the social, local and personal effects of 1689, but it is also a helpful reminder for social and cultural historians of the centrality of religion to the way that eighteenth-century individuals perceived one another.'

Daniel Rignall Source: The Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society

‘The book provides not only a useful argument for a more complex understanding of the role of religion in eighteenth-century England, but also a model for how to think about it in the wider English world.’

Evan Haefeli Source: Journal of British Studies

‘Brown’s study offers compelling evidence of the tensions prompted in individuals and groups by the act’s dissonant promise of security for and acceptance but not outright approval of sectarian dissent.’

Daniel Lochman Source: H-Net Reviews

‘This book presents an often overlooked way of examining social history and it has value for that. How did neighbours interact, especially given such profound differences sincerely held by both parties? The physical presence of alternative places of worship within a parish served as a daily reminder of difference but did not necessarily lead to confrontation. How were such differences tackled and even resolved? Carys Brown addresses the social discourse, and the local politics and culture of the community at that time in this valuable study.’

Marian Field Source: Congregational History Society Magazine

‘Brown … asserts that religious difference remained a key component of English society in this period, even if deep disagreements were veiled by decorous rhetoric. In this well-researched and clearly written study, based on wide reading, she makes a persuasive case. ‘Friends, Neighbours, Sinners’ will be a useful and stimulating text for students of early modern England, and it offers points of comparison and difference for those working on Europe and North America, too.’

Martin Wellings Source: Reading Religion