In Stuart Flinders’s study of a Victorian cult on the fringes of the Established Church, the tension between insanity and zeal hangs over every chapter. As The Times asked in 1860, were the worshippers who gathered at “The Abode of Love” being led by “a religious enthusiast, a lunatic or an adventurer”? And the priests at the heart of the cult, James Henry Prince and John Smyth-Pigott, were accused of being “blasphemous buffoons” and suffering from “Messianic delusion”. On the surface, with its servants, stables, and croquet lawns, “The Abode of Love” looked like a genteel hotel. A Very British Cult: Rogue priests and the abode of loveStuart FlindersIcon Books £20(978-1-83773-147-3)Church Times Bookshop £18
