Possible Dreams: A Personal History of the British Christian Socialists

by Chris Bryant

A history of the British Christian Socialist movement which traces the founding of the Labour Party and its reliance on such Christians as Keir Hardie and Stafford Cripps, and the role played in forming the welfare state by church figures such as Henry Scott Holland and William Temple.

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Christopher John Bryant is a British politician and former Anglican priest who served in government as Deputy Leader of the House of Commons from 2008 to 2009 and Under-Secretary of State for Europe and Asia from 2009 to 2010, and in the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Culture Secretary and Shadow Leader of the House of Commons from 2015 to 2016. He was privately educated at Cheltenham College before studying English at Mansfield College, Oxford. After graduating with a further degree in theology, he worked as a Church of England priest as well as having roles at the BBC and Common Purpose.

Reviews

[Alistair Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christian Socialism is in one sense a sometimes fringe element in British politics, unlike on the continent there has never been a party of that name or a party committed to it`s doctrines, whatever they may be as it is a somewhat ill defined term. What is clear in this book, a 1996 work by Chris Bryant (before he entered Parliament himself) is that Christian socialists have been a threat in British politics, Bryant drawing a line from the Levellers to the Chartists, the campaigns of the Nineteenth century, the formation of the Labour party, the little remembered Commonwealth Party of the 1940s and into the 1960s with the likes of Donald Soper.
The author refers to the number of Christian Socialists in the then Labour shadow cabinet and of Tony Blairs Christianity. This may well be and Blair is undoubtedly a man of faith but his administration can hardly be said to be, "we don`t do God" in Campbells words but British politicians in the modern age (unlike their American counterparts) are usually uneasy mixing faith with politics.
I found this book to be stronger on the early history and C19th, the post WW2 sections are slightly heavy on fringe groups and publications rather than grand themes but I did find this book to be an interesting and thoughtful look at a slightly neglected thread in politics.