Ploughshare and Pruning-Hook: Ten Lectures on Social Subjects

These ten essays, first delivered as public lectures, weave together the cadence of a preacher’s sermon with the urgency of a political rally. The speaker moves freely between pulpit and platform, using wit and occasional humor to keep both congregations and crowds attentive. Listeners are invited into a space where serious social critique feels conversational rather than didactic.

At the heart of the collection is a call for personal “conversion” that applies not only to faith but to every institution that shapes our lives. Schools, prisons, courts, and even the halls of government are examined as extensions of collective conscience, often masking hard‑heartedness with the veneer of legality. By exposing the gap between proclaimed virtue and actual practice, the lectures challenge us to hold ourselves as tightly accountable as we hold others.

The tone remains earnest yet approachable, offering a perspective that feels both idealistic and grounded in the realities of post‑war Britain. It’s a compelling listening experience for anyone interested in the crossroads of morality, politics, and the everyday structures that govern society.