Sevenoaks People and Faith Two Thousand Years of Belief and Faith David Killingray Size: 245x168 Binding: Hardback Pages: 208 Number of Illustrations: 118 Published: 2004 ISBN: 978 1 86077 297 9 RRP: £15.99
	THE SEVENOAKS AREA of west Kent has had a Christian presence for more than fifteen hundred years. Today we live in a secular society, but throughout most of that long period people’s lives were shaped and influenced by some form of religious belief, that excited passions and controversies most people today find difficult to understand. The doctrines of the church are well documented, but less is known about the beliefs of ordinary people, often a mixture of Christian stories and folk ideas. In every age, including the present, people have tended to fashion personal ‘religious’ views to help make sense of the world. This penetrating new book looks at changing beliefs and practices over 2000 years in the Sevenoaks area - the old Hundred of Codsheath. Not merely about religious faith, it shows how Christian belief, in particular, influenced the politics, social order, economy, judicial structures, culture and architecture of the area. Largely based on recent research, the book provides a new dimension to the history of Sevenoaks and the surrounding district. After a detailed, over-arching view that places the locality in the national context, there are some thirty contributions that examine how church and chapel, believers and non-believers, have played their part in town or village community. It provides a guide to the history of their churches for those who still have an allegiance and, perhaps, helps them to see why they belong to a particular denomination. Most importantly, this interesting book throws new light on the history of the area.