A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD
The use of the Bible ethically and politically
Eds. Craig Bartholomew, Jonathan Chaplin, Robert Song, Al Wolters. Paternoster. 445 pages. £18.00
ISBN 1 84227 067 2
Here are three books of which it is hard to speak too highly.
Oliver O'Donovan's The desire of the nations: rediscovering the roots of political theology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996; ISBN 0 521 66516 7; 304 pages; £20.00) is one of the most profound, cogent, compelling and stimulating books that I have ever read. It is also one of the most theologically tightly argued. I have rarely, if ever, spent as long reading a single book as I have taken to read this truly great work. It is a thorough and faithful exploration of the theme of the Kingdom of God which pays particular attention to aspects of authority, government, society and politics, and which, along the way, provides the careful reader with an education in the nature of the church, the history of political thought, the many by-paths in church-state relations which have been taken down the ages, and much more besides.
