Defender of the Faith - the Church and the Crisis in the Monarchy

Defender of the Faith: The Church and the Crisis in the Monarchy
By Ted Harrison
Fount (Harper Collins). 158 pages. £6.99
ISBN 0 00 627983 X

The House of Windsor is religiously confused, unrepentantly immoral, hugely expensive, blatantly hypocritical, fatally aloof and readily replaceable. So argues this readable barometer of our changing mood about the current royal family.
If some of Ted Harrison's stories remain unproven, the reality often turns out to be worse than the rumour; the royals are sinking fast. Their time is literally almost up, since our dynasties average 84.5 years; this would bring the Windsors neatly to the millennium's end.
A grey socialist republic is not the only alternative to the present monarchy; other possibilities are both colourful and workable. If the job description for a new monarch (page 124) seems fantastic, so is the cocooned world in which the royals have their fun. Of course there have been worse times than ours. But we are not answerable for the past; just for now. What family on earth could survive the modern media onslaught on the Windsors? Not many. But not many have so much wealth, and none, more mystique.
Why is Prince Charles never at the Cup final? Originally, perhaps, because he wasn't interested, which tells us something about him. Now, because of the chanting he might hear, which tells us something about us. Christians will have to search their hearts in a changed regime; perhaps more of us should have started a little earlier.
Two senior citizens sat near me as our bus passed the Tower of London recently. One said: 'I suppose when the monarchy is abolished, all this will have to come down!'. Well, not immediately. But a lot will, fairly soon, and much of the churchy mumbo-jumbo with it. Free churches will also be affected; so will Roman Catholics, and Muslims.
Half a line on the need for a new National Anthem seems meagre; total silence about the author is mean. Princess Diana is treated generously, and King Solomon, pointedly.

Christopher Idle

© Evangelicals Now - November 1996
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Main Articles

• Penetrating public life - interview with Juraj Kusnierik
  How the Central European Foundation seeks to introduce biblical Christianity in Central Europe
• Billy the Kid in Wales
  An account of the Billy Graham visit in 1946 to South Wales
• Whose life is it anyway?
  The sanctity of human life
• God's providence and unreached peoples
  Lessons from the AEF work among the Tsimihety people in Madagascar
• Hakuna Matata
  God's hand in a visit to Western Kenya
• Stepping into Arab culture
  The paramount need for love and understanding when dealing with Arab Christians
• Pastoral style - especially for Baptists
  Advice on bearing and behaviour for pastors

Other articles

• Jesus for a new generation - How to reach Generation X - an extract from the book Jesus for a new generation
• Luther's Commentary on the Letter to the Galatians - Precious pronoun - an edited extract from Luther's Commentary on the Letter to the Galatians
• Taught To Serve
• Housegroups - The Leaders Survival Guide
• Defender of the Faith - the Church and the Crisis in the Monarchy
• Doing Theology for the People of God
• 1 Corinthians (Welwyn Commentary Series)
• Serving God? Serving Mammon?
• Shut up Sarah
• Down to Earth
• Biblical Interpretation Past and Present
• For Such A Time As This