Harnessing Chaos: The Bible in English Political Discourse since 1968

Harnessing Chaos is an explanation of changes in dominant politicized assumptions about what the Bible ‘really means’ in English culture since the 1960s. James G. Crossley looks at how the social upheavals of the 1960s, and the economic shift from the post-war dominance of Keynesianism to the post-1970s dominance of neoliberalism, brought about certain emphases and nuances in the ways in which the Bible is popularly understood, particularly in relation to dominant political ideas. This book examines the decline of politically radical biblical interpretation in parliamentary politics and the victory of (a modified form of) Margaret Thatcher’s re-reading of the liberal Bible tradition, following the normalisation of (a modified form of) Thatcherism more generally.

Part I looks at the potential options for politicized readings of the Bible at the end of the the1960s, focussing on the examples of Christopher Hill and Enoch Powell. Part II analyses the role of Thatcher’s specific contribution to political interpretation of the Bible and assumptions about ‘religion’. Part III highlights the importance of (often unintended) ideological changes towards forms of Thatcherite interpretation in popular culture and with particular reference to Monty Python’s Life of Brian and the Manchester music scene between 1976 and 1994. Part IV concerns the modification of Thatcher’s Bible, particularly with reference to the embrace of socially liberal values, by looking at the electoral decline of the Conservative Party through the work of Jeffrey Archer on Judas and the final victory of Thatcherism through Tony Blair’s exegesis. Some consideration is then given to the Bible in an Age of Coalition and how politically radical biblical interpretations retain a presence outside parliamentary politics. Harnessing Chaos concludes with reflections on why politicians in English politicians bother using the Bible at all.

• Table Of Contents
• Introduction
  • Chapter 1: ‘Chaos is a Ladder’: A Reception History of the Bible in English Politics
• Part I: Experiencing Defeat
  • Chapter 2: Christopher Hill’s World Turned Upside Down
  • Chapter 3: This Was England: The Similitudes of Enoch Powell
• Part II: Thatcherism and the Harnessing of Chaos
  • Chapter 4: ‘Your Arms Are Just Too Short to Box with God’: Margaret Thatcher’s Neoliberal Bible
• Part III: Carriers of Cultural Change
  • Chapter 5: ‘We’re All Individuals’: When Life of Brian Collided with Thatcherism
  • Chapter 6: Saving Margaret from the Guillotine: Independent Music in Manchester from the Rise of Thatcher to the Rise of Blair
• Part IV: From Thatcher’s Legacy to Blair’s Legacy
  • Chapter 7: Your Own Personal Judas: The Rehabilitation of Jeffrey Archer
  • Chapter 8: 45 Minutes from Doom! Tony Blair and the Radical Bible Rebranded
  • Chapter 9: The Gove Bible versus the Occupy Bible
• Conclusion: Why Do Politicians Bother with the Bible?
• Bibliography