Exceptionalism for Dummies

Photo by British Library on Unsplash

Picking up a Bible years ago I remember being struck by the name of the publisher, the British and Foreign Bible Society. This wasn’t a revelation as I’d heard of the society before. But this time I was mindful of how us Brits sometimes see the world as split between those who are British and those who are foreign and I believe its a relic of the British Empire. The name has now been shortened to Bible Society.

The British Empire

The British Empire was unique in that it was the largest ever empire upon which the sun famously never set. Neither has any other other civilisation given the world a truly international language, a feat even the USA can never claim as English is its language. These claims truly are exceptional but at what cost? The Bible Society has distributed Bibles around the world but to what end? You will find Anglican churches throughout the world which many would see as a tribute to the dedication of British Christian missionaries but is it rather a legacy of oppressive British colonialism?

There is a common misconception (especially in the UK) that the British Empire was largely benign or beneficial to its colonies. The slave trade is an obvious exception but then some would argue that all empires have traded in slaves. While this is true you’d be hard pressed to find an empire that treated its slaves more badly than…