Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Personal or Practical Reflections?, 20 May 2004
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.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
'Was it all a vain delusion built on centuries of war...?', 17 Aug 2003
Whether one avows oneself to christianity (not exactly the 'done thing' today) or not, the biblical quote about rendering to God c.q. Caesar what each one is due will be familiar.
In her book Britain's LibDem leader Ms Williams explores the continuing role she believes religion still needs to play in our society. A focal point about her account is the cynical estrangement pervading the contemporary mind as a consequence of the quick transformations our world is undergoing. Among other she warns against the impure way in which the ticklish struggle against modern terrorism is dubbed "war" or the way that terrorists are referred to in terms of "the enemy".
Such verbal warmongering must even push the "free" world onto the inclined plane of Newspeak and, worse, to all the misguided decision-making this train of thought entails. Rather than raising the prospect of eventual victory, such problems as terrorism and, indeed, drugs call for an ongoing effort rather than callous saber-wielding or rattling propaganda talk.
This includes the WTC attacks, which Ms Williams would prefer to see defined in terms of crimes against humanity rather than under the guise of warfare between sovereign states. In line with this, she makes an ardent plea for the International Criminal Court as the only sensible instrument to deal with terrorism.
If this were the platform used, it could open up the hopeful perspective of cross-boundary global justice based on the common respect for life.
The daughter of VAD nurse Vera Brittain, Ms Williams steps aside from identifying good and evil in simplistic us-and-them concepts: blessing guns and bombs is an insult to the Prince of Peace, she says.
Was it Plato who advanced the thesis that philosophers would be quite eligible as kings? While Ms Williams 'lets there be no doubt about' the religious conviction she adheres, her testimony deserves the widest possoble audience. Her versatile mind and highly readable book both testify to just that kind of lucidity our present world can hardly do without.
An indispensable and though-provoking read!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Was it all a vain delusion built on centuries of war...?, 22 Jun 2003
Whether one avows oneself to christianity (not exactly the done thing these days) or not, the biblical quote about rendering to God c.q. Caesar what each one is due will be familiar. In her book, Ms Williams explores the continuing role she believes religion still needs to play in our society. A focal point about her account is the cynical estrangement pervading the contemporary mind as a consequence of the quick transformations our world is undergoing. Among other she warns against the impure way in which the ticklish struggle against modern terrorism is dubbed "war" or the way that terrorists are referred to in terms of "the enemy". Such verbal warmongering must even push the 'free' world onto the inclined plane of newspeak and, worse, to all the misguided decision-making this train of thought entails. Rather than raising the prospect of eventual victory, such problems as terrorism and, indeed, drugs, call for an ongoing effort rather than callous saber-wielding or rattling propaganda talk. This includes the WTC attacks, which Ms Williams would prefer to see defined in terms of crimes against humanity rather than under the guise of warfare between sovereign states. In line with this, she makes an ardent plea for the International Criminal Court as the only sensible instrument to deal with terrorism. If this were the platform used, it could open up the hopeful perspective of cross-boundary global justice based on a common respect for human life.
The daughter of VAD nurse Vera Brittain, Ms Williams steps aside from identifying good and evil in us-and-them concepts: blessing guns or bombs is an insult to the Prince of Peace, she says.
Was it Plato who advanced the thesis that philosophers would be quite eligible as kings? While Ms Williams 'lets there be no doubt about' the religious conviction she adheres, her testimony deserves the widest possible audience. Her versatile mind and highly readable book testifies to just that kind of lucidity our world can hardly do without. An indispensable and thought-provoking read!
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