The Cross and the Trenches: Religious Faith and Doubt Among British and American Great War Soldiers

Front Cover
Bloomsbury Academic, May 30, 2003 - History - 311 pages

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.

From inside the book

 

Contents

The British and American Churches and the War 3
3
The Spectrum of Religious Faith
17
Chaplains
63
Copyright

7 other sections not shown

Common terms and phrases

Alvin York American soldiers Anglican Anglican chaplains atheists Battalion Loyal North battle Bible British and American British Army British chaplains British soldier Brittain Papers chaplains Charles Christ Christian Union Church of England Church Parades civilians clergy clerical nationalists Company Cross culture death devout Diary diers Donald Hankey Edmund Blunden Edward Brittain Evers Papers experience George German God's Haig Hankey Harold History Ibid Jesus John killed Kilmer Kitching letter London Loyal North Lancashire Max Plowman Memoirs military Minder modernist mother Ninth Battalion Loyal North Lancashire Regiment officer organized religion Owen Oxford padre Peace Pershing poem postwar pray prayer Private quoted religious beliefs religious faith religious responses Reverend revival Robert Graves Roland Leighton roll Roman Catholic chaplains Sassoon shell Siegfried Siegfried Sassoon Skirth spiritual subaltern Talbot Testament trenches troops University Press USAMHI Vera Brittain Victor Richardson Western Front Wilfred Wilfred Owen William Wilson World WRDMU wrote WWISM YMCA York

References to this book

World War I
Jennifer D. Keene
No preview available - 2006
World War I
Jennifer D. Keene
No preview available - 2006

About the author (2003)

RICHARD SCHWEITZER is an independent scholar. His articles on war and culture have appeared in Weber Studies, Film and History, and War & Society.

Bibliographic information

TitleThe Cross and the Trenches: Religious Faith and Doubt Among British and American Great War Soldiers
Issue 225 of Contributions in Military Studies, ISSN 0883-6884
AuthorRichard Schweitzer
Editionillustrated
PublisherBloomsbury Academic, 2003
Original fromthe University of Michigan
DigitizedJun 10, 2008
ISBN0313318387, 9780313318382
Length311 pages
Subjects ›  › 

History / Military / General
  
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