Simon Jenkins has travelled the length and breadth of England to select his thousand best churches. Organised by county, each church is described - often with delightful asides - and given a star-rating from one to five. All of the county sections are prefaced by a map locating each church, and lavishly illustrated with colour photos from the Country Life archive. Jenkins contends that these churches house a gallery of vernacular art without equal in the world. Here, he brings that museum to public attention.

Can the church celebrate the eucharist in "contagious times," like the coronavirus pandemic, and if so, how? In this book, Richard Burridge investigates a wide range of proposed options, both in the everyday physical world (fasting the eucharist, spiritual communion, solo and concelebrated communions, lay presidency, drive-in and drive-thru eucharists, and extended communion) and in cyberspace (computer services for avatars, broadcast eucharists online, and narrowcast communions using webinar software like Zoom). Along the way, he tackles the whole range of concepts of the church, ordination, and the eucharist. This book is essential reading for anyone desiring an informed and provocative guide to the theology and practice of holy communion in our challenging times.

John Leland (1754-1841) was one of the most influential and entertaining religious figures in early America. As an itinerant revivalist, he demonstrated an uncanny ability to connect with a popular audience, and contributed to the rise of a democratized Christianity in America. A tireless activist for the rights of conscience, Leland also waged a decades-long war for disestablishment, first in Virginia and then in New England. Leland advocated for full religious freedom for all-not merely Baptists and Protestants-and reportedly negotiated a deal with James Madison to include a Bill of Rights in the Constitution. Leland developed a reputation for being mad for politics in early America, delivering political orations, publishing tracts, and mobilizing New England's Baptists on behalf of the Jeffersonian Republicans. He crowned his political activity by famously delivering a 1,200-pound cheese to Thomas Jefferson's White House. Leland also stood among eighteenth-century Virginia's most powerful anti-slavery advocates, and convinced one wealthy planter to emancipate over 400 of his slaves. Though among the most popular Baptists in America, Leland's fierce individualism and personal eccentricity often placed him at odds with other Baptist leaders. He refused ordination, abstained from the Lord's Supper, and violently opposed the rise of Baptist denominationalism. In the first-ever biography of Leland, Eric C. Smith recounts the story of this pivotal figure from American Religious History, whose long and eventful life provides a unique window into the remarkable transformations that swept American society from 1760 to 1840.

This book is based on sections of Nikolaus Pevsner's 'South Lancashire' and 'North Lancashire', both published in 1969"--acknowledgements.

This brand new title in Bradt's acclaimed UK regional Slow series is the only full guide to Cheshire, a county known for its abundance of black-and-white timbered buildings and which was put firmly on the map in the 1990s thanks to then-resident stars Posh and Becks. Cheshire is a county that confounds expectations, from the Cheshire Plain to the hills and moors of the Pennines and Peak District in the east and surprisingly dramatic sandstone ridges in the west, not to mention the Wirral Peninsula, flanked by the major estuaries of the Rivers Mersey and Dee flowing into the Irish Sea. Home to premier league footballers it may be, but it is also a largely rural landscape and an area of farm shops, forests and falconries; meres, marinas and marshes. There is industrial and scientific heritage, too, ranging from Bronze-Age mining sites to the internationally important astronomical observatory and mighty Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank. With this new Bradt guide, discover all of this and more: the county town of Chester with its fascinating Roman history, unique double-decker medieval shopping arcades and the most complete city walls in Britain; ruins of ancient castles; and reminders of the salt and silk industries that have been so important in the past. For a truly slow experience, Cheshire also offers a network of canals, perfect for waterside strolls or pootling along in a narrowboat, while Bradt's Slow Cheshire details information for walkers and cyclists, too. Also included in this guide are gardens and parks, grand stately homes and structural legacies of the past (such as Port Sunlight), engaging museums, attractions and events. Local food and drink is covered, along with all types of accommodation, from farm stays and self-catering cottages to guesthouses and hotels.