"For fifty years or more a dominant motif in nineteenth-century British studies has been the Victorian crisis of faith. From Basil Willey to A. N. Wilson book have been written that recount the stories of Victorians who lost their faith. This narrative has become so ingrained that it is often the principal theme presented when religion in nineteenth-century Britain is discussed in general histories, textbooks, and literary studies. Serving as a corrective to that tired and overblown approach, Crisis of Doubt uncovers a new pattern: the Victorian crisis of doubt." --Book Jacket.