FREEDOM AND ORDER
History, politics and the English Bible
By Nick Spencer. Hodder & Stoughton. 300 pages. £16.99
ISBN 978 0 340 996 232
Not once, during recent debates in Parliament, did I hear any MP accuse another of retiring ‘into what may be called his political cave of Adullam’.
These words, used by John Bright during the Reform Bill debate in 1866, assumed a level of biblical knowledge which is part of the premise of the book, that the Bible is the single most important text in British political history. Spencer’s central point is that, as much as it is impossible to appreciate or understand English literature without knowing the English Bible, the same is the case with understanding our nation’s politics. He proves his case by taking the reader on a political rollercoaster ride from medieval political thought and Anglo-Saxon political authority, through ideas of tolerance, democracy and equality, to the formation of the welfare state and the speeches of modern prime ministers.
