God and Caesar

by Shirley Williams

Book by Williams, Shirley

Genres: Politics

Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

The Right Honourable Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, Companion of Honour, Privy Counselor to Queen Elizabeth II, was a Labour Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister before becoming a co-founder of the more centrist Social Democratic Party in 1981. After this merged with the Liberal Democrats, she was made a life peer and served as the Leader of the Lib-Dems in the House of Lords from 2001 until her retirement in 2004.

Reviews

[Allan Savage]

I chose to read this book on the basis of its subtitle: Personal Reflections on Politics and Religion expecting a personal account. Rather, a practical account was offered such that, to my mind, the subtitle could be more accurately expressed Practical Reflections on Politics and Religion. The book is based on a lecture series and as a result is not a difficult book to read. Williams, by her own admission, is not a theologian, nor scholar but a politician. She claims the "authority of experience" for the right to make comments on the relationship between religion and politics. She embraces, and is embraced by, a political and an historical aspect of the institutional church, not its founder. "It seemed to me that, if I was to be a Christian, I should embraced Christianity in its strongest form. It was the huge claims and the huge demands made that drew me to the Church of Rome" (p. 6). In her embrace, I believe, she differs from the politician W E Gladstone who believed that politicians ought to be inspired and motivated by religious convictions. She does support the institutional Church, "warts and all" in addressing the social and global ills of our day. But her support appears to lack Gladstone's personal evangelical commitment to political activity. Her support of the Roman Church, however, does not exempt the Church from undertaking a critical self-reflection. I was not disappointed after reading the book for there are many significant insights clearly and appropriately expressed. Her highly practical insights helped me to become better informed about the relationship between church and state in a contemporary context. However, I remain no better informed about her personal understanding or personal commitment which for me was the initial attraction of the book's subtitle.