The Victorian city and the Christian imagination: from gothic city to garden city

Knight, Frances

Abstract

This article discusses some of the ways in which ideas about the city influenced the thinking of British Christians from 1840 to the early twentieth century. First, it explores nonconformist conceptions of the city, suggesting that, although the urban environment offered favourable circumstances for nonconformist growth, a desire to return to, or incorporate elements of, rural life was rarely far away. It explores why, when the garden city movement began, it found such fertile soil among Christian thinkers. Secondly, it considers some of the biblical paradigms that shaped late Victorian thinking about the city. Preachers and writers moved seamlessly from their well-stocked religious imaginations to contemplating the practicalities of the city, and back again. It is argued that the Christian evocation of medieval cities, biblical cities and garden cities shaped in important ways the conceptualizations of the urban world.

Citation

Knight, F. (2021). The Victorian city and the Christian imagination: from gothic city to garden city. Urban History, 48(1), 37-53. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963926819000890

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 16, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Oct 30, 2019
• Publication Date: Feb 1, 2021
• Deposit Date: Jul 26, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 26, 2019
• Journal: Urban History
• Print ISSN: 0963-9268
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-8706
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 48
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 37-53
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963926819000890
• Keywords: Geography, Planning and Development; Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous); History; Urban Studies
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2346227
• Publisher URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/urban-history/article/victorian-city-and-the-christian-imagination-from-gothic-city-to-garden-city/6A5A531385709BF36305F4EEF97E78D8