New books out by two scholars the NT didn’t want on its Council

Bijan Omrani’s new book God is an Englishman has won high praise from Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, while Tiffany Jenkins, now a Trustee of the British Museum, has impressed the critics with her examination of private life in centuries past, Last year these two fine scholars did not win the support of the National Trust’s Nominations Committee, which means that they were effectively blocked from being elected to the Council.

Bijan Omrani shows in his book how Christianity has shaped British society and institutions. The book argues that ‘campaigns for the abolition of slavery in the 18th century and the limitation of child labour in the 19th… were fuelled not by “enlightened” liberal sceptics but by toughly dogmatic Christians with an unshakeable conviction of God-given human dignity and the imperative of compassion.’

Rowan Williams describes the book as "superb" and "lively and erudite" and says,

‘Omrani is not a religious evangelist. He is, though, much more than a “cultural Christian”, weaponising an angry nostalgia in the service of political resentment. He wants us to look and listen hard to the actual contours and rhythms of the Christian vision of humanity as England has received it over the centuries, and to ask what we might urgently need of that vision, not so much so that we can be better Englishmen or Englishwomen, but so that we can be better human beings, better singers, scientists and social activists.’

Tiffany Jenkins became a Trustee of the British Museum in March. Having her on the Council would surely have been quite a coup for the National Trust. The Telegraph describes her as ‘a serious scholar on modern museum practice’. Her new book Strangers and Intimates: The Rise and Fall of Private Life

New Scientist says of Strangers and Intimates, ‘This is the sort of history book that makes you look at all history anew’. And isn’t looking at history anew something the National Trust wants to do?

Lawrence Goldman and Zareer Masani are two more fine historians who have been prevented by the Quick Vote mechanism from election to the National Trust’s Council. This may be appropriate for a charity that seems more interested in ‘telling stories’ than in serious history.