Christian Thinking and Social Order: Conviction Politics from the 1930s to the Present Day

by Marjorie Reeves (Editor)

Endeavours to map out a piece of the intellectual history of this century which once almost faded from memory. In 1941 William Temple, then Archbishop of York, called for a "Christian social philosophy" and in so doing voiced a concern that had been gathering momentum all through the 30s, sharpened by the challenge of authoritarian regimes, left and right, and had formed the focus of the Oxford Conference of Church, Community and State in 1937. Although it had been World War One which set in motion the great social changes of this period, a conscious response began to surface only at the very end of the 20s. In 1933, a symposium, "Christianity and the Crisis", was commissioned by Victor Gollancz and edited by Percy Dearmer, Canon of Westminster. It presented 32 clerical and lay contributions on current social problems. From this point onwards, outburst of thought and discussion developed. After a short background section on the "themes of the 30s", there follows a series of chapters on a range of initiatives concerned with Christians and society. Among the thinkers who figure in this book are L.J.H. Olsham, Martin Buber, Karl Mannheim, John Middleton Murry, Reinhold Niebuhr, Michael Polanyi, John Macmurray, T.S. Eliot and Walter Moberly.

238 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1999