Piety and Poverty: Working-Class Religion in Berlin, London and New York, 1870-1914 by Hugh McLeod (review)

310BOOK REVIEWS nessed as weU a dramatic reaUgnment of debate partners in the discussion, as many devout Protestants found more succor from Catholics than from feUow Protestants in the culture-wide fracas. MuUin demonstrates that by 1915 the belief in the "limited age" was simply no longer accepted by many Englishspeaking beUevers, and that an emergent interest in the "ministry of healing" had led to three distinctive positions on the miraculous that stiU define, to a large extent, contemporary religious discourse about the miraculous: a "therapeutic " model of miracles, that sees the divine working in natural categories; a "sacramental/Uturgical" model, that emphasizes the role of grace operating through formaUy ordained ecclesiastical channels; and a "thaumaturgical" model, that argues that God intervenes directly in the Uves of the faithful. This is an extremely important and well-written study, and contributes in three significant ways to reshaping the discussion of religion in the North Atlantic world in the GUded Age: first, MuUin demonstrates that debates focused on the miraculous may very weU be at least as important as the discussions about the authority and inspiration of scripture in understanding the splintering and realignment of the Protestant mainstream in the hatf-century after 1875; secondly, MuUin shows that this debate appears to have replaced the traditional Catholic-Protestant division in defining the "parties" of theological discussion by the early years of the twentieth century, and thus posits an "ecumenical " sentiment across Reformation Lines earUer than usually recognized by religious historians; and thirdly, Mullin convincingly argues for a far more important role for the AngUcan/Episcopal tradition in defining the issues and "sides" of the cultural debate over reUgion than traditionally assigned to it in a field that has focused far more on the Reformed tradition. This is essential reading for scholars of GUded Age religion, ecumenical relations, and American popular culture. Mark S. Massa Fordham University Piety and Poverty: Working-Class Religion in Berlin, London and New York, 1870-1914. By Hugh McLeod. [Europe Past and Present Series.] (New York: Holmes & Meier. 1996. Pp. xxx, 264. $45.00.) Hugh McLeod shows a predUection for units of three in his latest book, in which he continues his study of the impact of modernization and urbanization on religious beliefs and practices among the working class. He traces this theme in three major cities, Berlin, London, and New York, in the hatf-century before World War I, in each city considering working-class attitudes to religion among Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. Most previous studies of this topic, he contends, have been either general surveys that overlooked specific factors or detailed local investigations that were deficient in comparative analysis. By contrast , in this work he claims to offer "a third kind of study, which is both local and comparative" (p. xxvi). BOOK REVIEWS311 McLeod rejects the deterministic thesis which views modernization as inevitably leading to a decline in religion. On the contrary, he notes that several aspects of modernization actuaUy favored the growth of reUgion. Nonetheless, the alienation of many workers from church and synagogue was one of the salient features of nineteenth-century European history. McLeod identifies three "generai'factors which shaped this attitude: (1) intense class conflicts that weakened loyalty to the established churches, (2) successive emancipation movements of peasants, workers, and women that often had an anticlerical dimension , and (3) inteUectuaI movements that undermined fundamentalist religious beliefs (p. 205). To these general factors McLeod adds the particular circumstances that were present in each of the three cities under discussion. He traces the evolution of working-class disaffection with religion through three stages: (1) the gradual loosening of ties with the church, (2) the decline In regular church attendance, and (3) a complete break with the church including the rejection of the traditional "rites of passage." According to these criteria, by 1900 the working class in Berlin had reached the third stage; the London workers were in the second stage, and "the position in NewYork was one of complete confusion because of the wide differences among ethnic groups" (pp. 103-104). One ofthe most valuable features ofthis book is the detaUed description ofthe variety ofworking-class attitudes to reUgion in the three cities. McLeod's...