Believing in Britain: The Spiritual Identity of Britishness - Softcover

In Believing in Britain Ian Bradley makes a unique contribution to the current debate about British identity. In an age when Great Britain is often seen as one of the most secular of nations, he argues that 'Britishness' is best understood in spiritual terms as an expression of inclusiveness and as a positive alternative to fundamentalism, narrow nationalism or jingoism. The book explores the distinctive contributions to Britishness made over the centuries by the Celtic traditions of the Welsh and Irish, the Anglo-Saxon strain and the characteristics of exuberance, modesty and reserve introduced by new black and Asian Britons. It also offers a number of radical proposals designed to help create a new sense of British identity that combines myth, imagination and tradition with an open-minded respect for diffrence.

Ian Bradley is Senior Lecturer in Practical Theology at the University of St Andrews and a Church of Scotland minister. A former political correspondent on The Times, his books for Lion include The Call to Seriousness (2005), Enlightened Entrepreneurs (2007) and Believing in Britain (2008)