Richard Schweitzer

The Cross and the Trenches

Religious Faith and Doubt among British and American Great War Soldiers

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

The modernist historiographical model of the Great War neglects such traditional modes of thought as religious response to battle. Drawing on the testimony of over 500 British and American soldiers, Schweitzer provides an in-depth account of topics such as soldiers' prayers and biblical readings, as well as religious doubts. As a detailed snapshot of religion during the war, this study provides a crucial preamble to studies of the legacy of the Great War. The lack of a satisfactory scholarly study has left interpretation of the role that religion played in soldiers' lives to the pronouncements of their contemporaries who often either viewed World War I as an opportunity to spark a religious revival or as an event that crushed religious faith. Schweitzer argues that neither of these interpretations is accurate, and he hopes to replace them with a model that arranges responses on a spectrum ranging from absolute faith in God to atheism. Based on extensive archival research, this study establishes a detailed model of the spiritual lives of British and American soldiers during the war. After sketching this spiritual history, he concludes that both British and American soldiers were more religious than previous writings have indicated.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Praeger
• Seitenzahl: 352
• Erscheinungstermin: 30. Mai 2003
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 240mm x 161mm x 23mm
• Gewicht: 695g
• ISBN-13: 9780313318382
• ISBN-10: 0313318387
• Artikelnr.: 21994542

Autorenporträt

Richard Schweitzer

Inhaltsangabe

Introduction Faith The British and American Churches and the War The
Spectrum of Religious Faith Chaplains Religion by Rank Soldiers' Religious
Responses within the Narrative Structure of Battle Religion on the
Homefront Doubt The Costs of Clerical Nationalism, the Church of England's
Chaplains, the Roman Catholic Converts, and the American YMCA The Revival
that Never Came, a Conjecture The Spectrum of Religious Doubt Coda Woodrow
Wilson and the Prince of Peace Motif Conclusion