ABSTRACT
David Hare, considering some of the issues raised by Faith in the City, implies that the consequence of the Church’s having lost its theological base is that it models itself on secular corporations, the very institutions which perpetuate social disparity. Racing Demon, the first play in Hare’s trilogy dealing with British social institutions in the aftermath of Thatcherism, focuses on some Church of England clergymen who are attempting to minister to an economically and racially mixed parish in the diocese of Southwark. Racing Demon suggests that the despair and hardship brought to England by Thatcherism pose particular challenges to Christians who must find their way without the spiritual guidance of the Church. Throughout Racing Demon there are indications that those on the upper levels of ecclesiastical government, particularly the bishops, conceive of themselves as executives in a business. The combination of righteousness and wrongness—the act of betrayal—certainly allows that either of the men might be identified as a “racing demon.”.
