In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • Bishop George Bell: House of Lords Speeches and Correspondence with Rudolf Hess ed. by Peter Raina
  • Eileen Groth Lyon
Bishop George Bell: House of Lords Speeches and Correspondence with Rudolf Hess. Edited by Peter Raina. (New York: Peter Lang. 2009. Pp. xvi, 225. $49.95 paperback. ISBN 978-3-03911-895-3.)

George Bell served as bishop of Chichester from 1929 to 1958. His extensive writings bear testimony to his commitment to ecumenism, promotion of the creative arts, and firm belief that the Church must engage responsibly with the problems of the modern world. Bell was introduced in the House of Lords on December 8, 1937, and continued to serve in the Lords until January 30, 1958. This volume provides the complete text of Bell’s speeches in the Lords and serves as a special remembrance of the fiftieth anniversary of his death.

The moral courage for which Bell has long been admired comes through very clearly in these interventions in Parliament. The positions taken by Bell were sometimes controversial and, in the view of many, cost him further preferment in the Church. Each speech was carefully researched and unequivocal in its argument. In one of his earliest speeches, he spoke about the refugee problem in Europe. He [End Page 379] argued that Britain must stand ready to help non-Aryans fleeing Germany and Austria by welcoming them in Britain and in colonial holdings. In 1943, he urged the government to make a distinction between Germany and the Hitlerite state in its formulation of war aims. He felt that it would be unjust to threaten all of Germany with destruction when the criminals were Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Bell’s most controversial position and the one for which he is most remembered was his criticism of the indiscriminate bombing of heavily populated German cities toward the end of the war. The terrorizing and killing of innocent civilians and obliteration of buildings of historic and cultural importance were, in his view, acts of barbarism. The utilization of such means in the effort to remove Hitler was a violation of the very standards of civility that the British claimed they sought to restore to Europe.

In the postwar period, Bell spoke of the need to re-establish the moral values of Europe by building upon the shared aspects of European culture. He sought the strengthening of international organizations for peace and the protection of human rights. His concern for human rights was reflected in addressing the problem of displaced persons as well as his criticism of the treatment of German prisoners of war by the Soviets. He found the concept of “total war” in which all moral restraints are cast aside reprehensible. Similarly, Bell regarded the use of the atomic bomb as an “immeasurable sacrilege against nature and against the human personality” (p. 145).

Although international issues might have seemed most pressing given the times, Bell also spoke on important domestic issues of the day—the plight of the unemployed, the importance of building new houses in Britain, university education, and reform of the constitution.

As an addendum to Bell’s speeches, editor Peter Raina also includes Bell’s correspondence with Rudolf Hess. Bell believed it was essential to maintain contact with important figures in Germany to express strong disagreement with Nazi policies. As is the case with Bell’s speeches, Raina’s introduction to the letters is rather slight. Deeper analysis and contextualization, especially of the letters, would have been desirable. However, the volume is a welcome addition, and many scholars will benefit from the ready access to the primary sources that Raina provides.

Eileen Groth Lyon
State University of New York at Fredonia
...

pdf

Share