The Church and Humanity: The Life and Work of George Bell, 1883–1958

George Bell remains one of only a handful of twentieth-century English bishops to possess a continuing international reputation for his involvement in political affairs. His insistence that Christian faith required active participation in public life, at home and abroad, established an eminent, and often provocative, contribution to Christian ethics at large. Bell's participation in the tragic history of the German resistance against Hitler has earned him an enduring place in the historiography of the Third Reich; his February 1944 speech protesting against the obliteration bombing of Germany, made in the House of Lords, is still often considered one of the great prophetic speeches of the twentieth century. Throughout his long career, Bell became a leading light in the burgeoning ecumenical movement, a supporter of refugees from dictatorships of all kinds, a committed internationalist and a patron of the Arts. This book draws together the work of leading international historians and theologians, including Rowan Williams, and makes an important contribution to a range of ongoing political, ecumenical and international debates.

Lectured in modern history at the universities of Birmingham, Keele and British Columbia before becoming Director of the George Bell Institute at the Queen's College in Birmingham in 1996. The institute moved to the University of Chichester in 2007. Author of a succession of studies of twentieth-century church affairs and politics, focussing mainly on the Church of England and international politics during the middle decades and also on the Church of England at large across the century. Publications include The Church of England in the Twentieth Century: The Church Commissioners and the Politics of Reform (Boydell, 2006)