His religious writings, social critiques, and homilies on post-war society were acclaimed in the United States, England, and in Canada, receiving praise from intellectuals such as Albert Jay Nock, T. S. Eliot, Richard M. Weaver, and Russell Kirk.
For the majority of his career, he toured and lectured at universities such as Harvard, Oxford, Yale, Columbia, Chicago, and Princeton as well as "almost every cathedral in England.
Russell Kirk, author of The Conservative Mind and friend of Bell, related the following anecdote in memoria:In educating his only son (who died at the threshold of manhood), in extensive travel, and in devotion to his ordained duties as a priest, he spent his money as it came: and that on principle.
In old age they achieved their end, and their house was built and well furnished; and just then Bell's grandmother discovered that she was suffering from an incurable malignant cancer.
"[10] The midnight of December 31, 1899, Charles Bell gathered his children together to give thanks for the coming century, whose blessings of technology and modernism, he believed, would bring about a more enlightened, peaceful world.
"[9] He spent much of the time experimenting "in the philosophical realm, looking for a sane theory of life"[9] and at one point briefly adopted scientific mechanism or materialism; however, it too fell short of being an adequate motivation for living.
"[9] He particularly praised the way it portrayed the Christian religion as rising above pure rationality, confirming both the empirical nature of science and the invisible, unquantifiable mysteries of human life.
[14] In the summer of 1912, the venerated Bishop Charles Chapman Grafton died, leaving behind a legacy as well as high expectations for his replacement at St. Paul's Cathedral, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
The next year, he wrote an article titled "The Dynamite of the Sacraments" describing some of the practical theology which formed the basis of his decision to join the U.S. Navy during World War I.
At first, he was denied enlistment due to a medical issue; however, as new conscripts flooded in at an increasing rate, "tent cities sprouted up"[16] on the 165-acre compound (by the end of the War 45,000 recruits were living in a space designed for 1,500).
"[10] In March 1918, the first case of Spanish influenza cropped up in Fort Riley, Kansas, and soon the pandemic was sweeping America, ultimately claiming the lives of 700,000 Americans and 50 million worldwide.
In this state of emergency, Bell found himself frequently providing Communion in barracks and visiting hospitals to perform last rites.
"[10] Rather than possessing a useful religion which helped in hardship, theirs was a weak collection of Bible stories, moral lessons, unanswered doubts, and negative-to-neutral impressions of churchgoing.
Encouraged by the men's predominantly positive response,[10] he later delivered it as a series of lectures in New England before being prompted again to set it down in book form under the title The Good News.
[19] He published Beyond Agnosticism in 1929, which addressed common college-age doubts, with a dedication to his son, Bernard Lee, who was preparing for higher education.
When Bell arrived to St. Stephen's College, the school was racked with massive debt, 29 students were enrolled, the buildings were in disrepair, and there were nine faculty members running all its programs.
He fired six faculty and personally hired a colorful assortment of professors based primarily on their "note and standing" in addition to being excellent teachers and learned men.
All this he fueled through constant speaking engagements: appearing on college campuses, cathedrals, suburban and urban parishes, large seminars, and most effectively, national radio.
The central argument of Postmodernism and Other Essays is that all aspects of Modernity––politics, religion, science, philosophy, technology, history, education––had failed and would give rise to widespread resentment and agnosticism, not only concerning God but every human authority.
Bell believed that tolerance marked "the decay of old standards rather than formation of new ones" in civilization; the succeeding intolerance was a constructive force, though often accompanied by intellectual strife and violence.
[24] Such a society in America would likely be cynical, over-organized, bored with easily accessible pleasures, and devote itself as heartily and unthinkingly to commercialism as ancient Rome did to imperialism.
"[19] The doctors cautioned him to cease competitive sports, sleep on the first floor of his dormitory, get a full night's rest, and carefully restrict his diet.
However, St. Stephen's was under complete control of the Episcopal Church;[13] and since his arrival, Bell had been conforming the campus to his own brand of classically inspired Anglo-Catholic education.
"[19] One of his most contested rules – informed by his military days – was that students must pay respect to the professor by standing to attention when he entered the room.
[19]When he had finished writing, Bell accidentally caught the ink bottle with the edge of the service book, thereby soaking at least fifteen pages.
However, he was witnessed periodically through the window by an administrative officer, who saw Bell parking his car on the edge of the highway and crossing the field to visit his son's grave.
He cited the long line of great scientists as being predominantly religious: Charles Darwin, Roger Bacon, Pierre Simon Laplace, John Dalton, Antoine Lavoisier, Werner Heisenberg, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Georges Lemaître, Luigi Aloisio Galvani, Galileo Galilei, Robert Boyle, Michael Faraday, Louis Pasteur, Lord Kelvin, and Robert A.
Materialistic science denied all non-measurable realities, and thus the inner life of humans—love, creative expression, beauty, and goodness—were reduced to behavior theory, biochemical reactions, mere neurons firing.
For as one comes closer to the Truth, in both the natural and spiritual realms, the evidence begins to "unravel" with such limitless complexity that human comprehension falls short.
Bell held that agnosticism was an important intellectual period during which one rigorously questioned the values, beliefs, and attitudes of the present age, even going so far as to claim that all intelligent Christianity is based upon it.