Nick Spencer joined the Beyond Belief podcast on BBC Radio 4 to discuss his new book, about how the Good Samaritan parable is used politically.

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 Politicians these days are not much given to quoting the Bible; but the Good Samaritan is the exception. Mrs Thatcher pointed out that he was only in a position to help because he was rich. Gordon Brown touched on the parable in support of bailing out the banks. Hilary Benn used it to justify bombing Syria. How can one story be used to support such diverse political policies? Why is it so popular? What resonance does the Good Samaritan have today?

Theos’ Research Director Nick Spencer has written a new book called The Political Samaritan: How Power Hijacked a Parable. On 11th December he spoke about the book on the Beyond Belief programme for BBC Radio 4.

Also speaking were the Rev Leslie Griffiths (Lord Griffiths of Burry Port) who sits as a Life Peer on the Labour benches, and Adrian Hilton, Director of Education at the Thatcher Centre.

Listen to the full podcast here.