Bishop George Bell always felt that the Church must endeavour to meet the problems of the modern world. He was thus foremost in applying the precepts of the Christian faith to national and international issues. George Bell very often raised his voice in the House of Lords (of which he was a distinguished member from December 1937 till January 1958) against class and racial hatred, against war, and against totalitarianism, and spoke for the innocent and helpless victims of persecution. Complete texts of all Bell’s House of Lords speeches are presented here, published for the first time in one volume. The issues that Bell tackled are, in essence, still relevant today. This volume also includes unpublished correspondence between George Bell and Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s deputy. After the National Socialists came to power in Germany, Bell, as a committed Christian, felt that he had to act in defence of the German Church, which the Nazis were eager to destroy. The Bishop made strenuous efforts to contact people in power in Germany, people who, he knew, took decisions with momentous consequences. Rudolf Hess was one of them.

The Editor: Peter Raina read Modern History at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, and Theology at Clare Hall, Cambridge. He received his M.A. from Clark University, Worcester, Mass. (USA), and his D.Phil. from the University of Warsaw. He has been a Research Fellow at the Osteuropa-Institut of the Free University Berlin; a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for International Studies, Faculty of History, Cambridge University, and at the Centre for International Studies, London School of Economics and Political Science; Senior Research Associate, Balliol College, Oxford; and Senior Common Room member, Christ Church, Oxford. He is the author of a number of books concerning European history and politics.

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