Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword In Praise of Jay, Friend and Colleague
- Introduction
- Chapter One The Social Concerns of Brunswick Wesleyan Chapel, Leeds, in the Victorian Era
- Chapter Two Navigating Cultural Pluralism: Christian Responses to Radical Unbelief in Early Nineteenth- century Scotland
- Chapter Three Wrestling with Dilemmas: Presbyterian Evangelism and Slavery in the American Ante-bellum South
- Chapter Four Awakened Protestants’ Calls for ‘Christian Socialism’ and ‘Christian Communism’ in Germany, 1844-50
- Chapter Five James Baird and the Baird Trust: Industrial Philanthropy and Evangelical Activism in Victorian Scotland
- Chapter Six In Person, Print and Prayer: The Shared Mission of Scottish and English Ragged Schools in the Nineteenth Century
- Chapter Seven Mary Magdalene and the ‘Fallen’ Sisters: The Social Gospel of the Magdalene Asylums in Scotland
- Chapter Eight ‘Standing in the Gap’: D. L. Moody and Evangelical Social Christianity in Chicago and Scotland, 1860–1900
- Chapter Nine ‘The Saving of the Body’: Sport at Church in England since 1850
- Chapter Ten Henry Scott Holland and Social Christianity in the English Fin de siècle
- Chapter Eleven ‘Indignation would arise within you’: Herman Bavinck on Racial Injustice in Europe and North America
- Chapter Twelve ‘Woodbine Willie’ and the Quest for a Social Christianity after the First World War
- Chapter Thirteen Billy Graham, the All Scotland Crusade of 1955 and the Social Gospel
- Chapter Fourteen Social Christianity on the Mission Field: Shifting Patterns in British and American Protestant Globalism in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
- Bibliography of Stewart J. Brown Professor Emeritus of Ecclesiastical History, University of Edinburgh
- Index
Chapter Six - In Person, Print and Prayer: The Shared Mission of Scottish and English Ragged Schools in the Nineteenth Century
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 March 2026
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword In Praise of Jay, Friend and Colleague
- Introduction
- Chapter One The Social Concerns of Brunswick Wesleyan Chapel, Leeds, in the Victorian Era
- Chapter Two Navigating Cultural Pluralism: Christian Responses to Radical Unbelief in Early Nineteenth- century Scotland
- Chapter Three Wrestling with Dilemmas: Presbyterian Evangelism and Slavery in the American Ante-bellum South
- Chapter Four Awakened Protestants’ Calls for ‘Christian Socialism’ and ‘Christian Communism’ in Germany, 1844-50
- Chapter Five James Baird and the Baird Trust: Industrial Philanthropy and Evangelical Activism in Victorian Scotland
- Chapter Six In Person, Print and Prayer: The Shared Mission of Scottish and English Ragged Schools in the Nineteenth Century
- Chapter Seven Mary Magdalene and the ‘Fallen’ Sisters: The Social Gospel of the Magdalene Asylums in Scotland
- Chapter Eight ‘Standing in the Gap’: D. L. Moody and Evangelical Social Christianity in Chicago and Scotland, 1860–1900
- Chapter Nine ‘The Saving of the Body’: Sport at Church in England since 1850
- Chapter Ten Henry Scott Holland and Social Christianity in the English Fin de siècle
- Chapter Eleven ‘Indignation would arise within you’: Herman Bavinck on Racial Injustice in Europe and North America
- Chapter Twelve ‘Woodbine Willie’ and the Quest for a Social Christianity after the First World War
- Chapter Thirteen Billy Graham, the All Scotland Crusade of 1955 and the Social Gospel
- Chapter Fourteen Social Christianity on the Mission Field: Shifting Patterns in British and American Protestant Globalism in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
- Bibliography of Stewart J. Brown Professor Emeritus of Ecclesiastical History, University of Edinburgh
- Index
Summary
I never engaged in a cause, as a man and a Christian minister, that I believe on my deathbed I will look back on with more pleasure or gratitude to God that he ever led me to work in than this cause of the Ragged Schools. – Rev. Dr Thomas Guthrie
If the ragged school system were to fail I should not die in the course of nature, I should die of a broken heart. – The Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury
Introduction
On Saturday, 19 January 1861 the Birmingham Gazette reminded its readers that the city was due to host a conference for ragged school supporters the following Wednesday. It would, according to the newspaper, be attended by ‘numerous visitors from all parts of the kingdom’. An illustrious list of names followed, including aristocrats, clergymen, philanthropists and politicians. Among those mentioned was the Rev. Thomas Guthrie, the founder and leader of Edinburgh’s Original Ragged Schools (EORS) – a title that gives a nod to the schism that marked its early days. Making the most of his visit to Birmingham, Guthrie would deliver a sermon in the city’s Music Hall the evening before. A separate article warned ‘those who may wish to hear Dr. Guthrie preach’ that stall tickets were ‘nearly all disposed of’. Interested parties were reassured that ‘precautions [had] been taken to prevent crush ing’. Following the event, and with no reported injuries among the crowd, the Gazette relayed details of the sermon.
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- Social Christianity in Scotland and Beyond, 1800-2000Essays in Honour of Stewart J. Brown, pp. 99 - 114Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2024
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