The Mighty and The Almighty: How Political Leaders Do God

(Hardback)

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This collection examines how a range of recent and contemporary leaders have 'done God': their Christian background and formation; how it has informed their political values and agenda, their priorities and their rhetoric; and what all this says about Christianity and contemporary political power. Alastair Campbell's 'We don't do God' is one of the most (mis)quoted sound bites of the age but, however much it might have been right concerning his political master (and therein lies a debate), it is certainly not true of all contemporary political leaders. Indeed, it is striking how many global political leaders are Christian believers and how far their faith shapes and is shaped by their politics - for better or for worse. This collection examines how a range of recent and contemporary leaders have 'done God': their Christian background and formation; how it has informed their political values and agenda, their priorities and their rhetoric; and what all this says about Christianity and contemporary political power. The collection will cover figures including Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, George W. Bush, Stephen Harper, Tarja Halonen, Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin, Kevin Rudd, Nicholas Sarkozy, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Margaret Thatcher.

Author Bio

Nick Spencer is Research Director of the religion and society think tank Theos. He is the author of a number of books, most recently Atheists: The Origin of the Species and The Evolution of the West. He writes on the history of ideas, and in particular on the immense influence of Christianity on Western thought and life. This is not a popular subject. He also writes on the relationship between Christianity and politics, in Britain and beyond. cThis is even less popular. He doesn't talk about his work much on the rare occasions he is invited out to dinner parties.