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Ian Bradley, God Save the Queen: The Spiritual Heart of the Monarchy (London: Continuum, 2012), pp. xxxiv + 299, £14.99, ISBN 978-1-4411-9367-4 (pbk).

Ian Bradley, God Save the Queen: The Spiritual Heart of the Monarchy (London: Continuum, 2012),... For all the interest in the British Royals on all sides of the Atlantic and beyond, I have never been aware of a sustained public theology of monarchy. Such a scholarly lacuna is filled by Ian Bradley’s revised edition of his 2002 God Save the Queen , first written for Her Majesty’s Golden Jubilee and now brought up-to-date (for the Diamond Jubilee), including further reflections and some changed opinions since the first edition. What remains consistent is Bradley’s argument that there is a sacral dimension to monarchy and that the British model manifests a Christian interpretation of this that commends itself to the next century. While Bradley is proudly British and genuinely pro-monarchy, he is able to recognize its latent weaknesses as well as strengths, and he makes a persuasive case that, because of the loss of confidence in aspects of church and state in contemporary Britain, the spiritual role of the monarchy needs to be all the more affirmed and applauded. The heart of Bradley’s book lies in his analysis of the coronation service. For him, it is a uniquely sacramental liturgy wherein the themes associated with the British monarchy—service and sacrifice, consecration to God and country, http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png International Journal of Public Theology Brill

Ian Bradley, God Save the Queen: The Spiritual Heart of the Monarchy (London: Continuum, 2012), pp. xxxiv + 299, £14.99, ISBN 978-1-4411-9367-4 (pbk).

International Journal of Public Theology , Volume 7 (2): 231 – Jan 1, 2013

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
Subject
Book Reviews
ISSN
1872-5171
eISSN
1569-7320
DOI
10.1163/15697320-12341291
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

For all the interest in the British Royals on all sides of the Atlantic and beyond, I have never been aware of a sustained public theology of monarchy. Such a scholarly lacuna is filled by Ian Bradley’s revised edition of his 2002 God Save the Queen , first written for Her Majesty’s Golden Jubilee and now brought up-to-date (for the Diamond Jubilee), including further reflections and some changed opinions since the first edition. What remains consistent is Bradley’s argument that there is a sacral dimension to monarchy and that the British model manifests a Christian interpretation of this that commends itself to the next century. While Bradley is proudly British and genuinely pro-monarchy, he is able to recognize its latent weaknesses as well as strengths, and he makes a persuasive case that, because of the loss of confidence in aspects of church and state in contemporary Britain, the spiritual role of the monarchy needs to be all the more affirmed and applauded. The heart of Bradley’s book lies in his analysis of the coronation service. For him, it is a uniquely sacramental liturgy wherein the themes associated with the British monarchy—service and sacrifice, consecration to God and country,

Journal

International Journal of Public TheologyBrill

Published: Jan 1, 2013

There are no references for this article.