God Save the Queen: The Spiritual Dimension of Monarchy

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Summary: Theological Implications for Britain and Beyond
Review: Ian Bradley invites us to think about the religious basis of the monarchy. He is faithful to this theme throughout the book. He speaks of recovery of the metaphysical imagination and "the revaluing of religion in contemporary Britain" (p.xix). His approach, however, has merit for revaluing (the Christian) religion outside Britain. In the chapters entitled, "Monarchy in the Old Testament" and "Monarchy in the New Testament", he offers a thorough treatment of the relationship to kingship of covenant spirituality with its roots in the scriptures. He makes the pertinent observation that "the kingdom theme in the New Testament has proved an even more problematic and controversial subject than that of monarchy in the Old testament" (p.25). To his credit he does not shy away from nor gloss over the problem areas in this relationship. Observations such that the visit of the magi places "no imperative on earthly rulers to surrender their crowns" and "Jesus does not reject the people's hailing of him as a king, but he does reject their expectation of what a king does" are typical of Bradley's insightful theological interpretation. He draws on a wide array of appropriate sources, academic and popular, but always with reference to his theme of relating spirituality and the British monarchy throughout the latter's history. As a theologian, I found his discussion about the spiritual significance to the Crown of Princess Diana's life and death enlightening and encouraging. From my perspective, living in Canada, he interprets her life and the public response to her death in a way that is not yet appreciated nor understood in North America. In contrast to Western postmodern self-centredness, I think that Bradley's assessment of the current debates about the monarchy are most informative, pertinent and significant. They offer a theological contribution to the discussion about the future role of the monarchy in Britain and on the world stage. Bradley notes that "theologically informed contributions to the debate on the future of the monarchy are few and far between" (p.180). His observation that debates about the future of the monarchy in contemporary Britain being conducted "outside the churches and the university theology departments, and in overwhelmingly secular terms" (p. 181), reminds me of the remark by a North American theologian. "The theologians have moved increasingly into the secular academy, where they cannot use a church or even the church as an automatic reference group." (Marty, M., 1980. North America: The empirical understanding of religion and theology, in Eliade, M & Tracey, D (eds), What is Religion? An Inquiry for Christian Theology. Concilium 136). With his book Bradley redresses the lack of theological appreciation of the monarchy to our benefit.