The clergy in khaki : new perspectives on British Army chaplaincy in the First World War / edited by Michael Snape [and] Edward Madigan.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Madigan, Edward.

Snape, M. F. (Michael Francis), 1968-

Series:

Ashgate studies in First World War history.

Ashgate Studies in First World War History

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Great Britain. Army. Royal Army Chaplains' Department--History.

Great Britain.

World War, 1914-1918--Chaplains--Great Britain.

World War, 1914-1918.

Military chaplains--Great Britain--History.

Military chaplains.

World War, 1914-1918--Religious aspects.

Physical Description:

xvi, 222 p.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2016.

Summary:

British army chaplains have not fared well in the mythology of the First World War. Like its commanders they have often been characterized as embodiments of ineptitude and hypocrisy. Yet, just as historians have reassessed the motives and performance of British generals, this collection offers fresh insights into the war record of British chaplains. Drawing on the expertise of a dozen academic researchers, the collection offers an unprecedented analysis of the subject that embraces military, political, religious and imperial history. The volume also benefits from the professional insights of chaplains themselves, several of its contributors being serving or former members of the Royal Army Chaplains' Department. Providing the fullest and most objective study yet published, it demonstrates that much of the post-war hostility towards chaplains was driven by political, social or even denominational agendas and that their critics often overlooked the positive contribution that chaplains made to the day-to-day struggles of soldiers trying to cope with the appalling realities of industrial warfare and its aftermath. As the most complete study of the subject to date, this collection marks a major advance in the historiography of the British army, of the British churches and of British society during the First World War, and will appeal to researchers in a broad range of academic disciplines.

Contents:

1. Introduction : British Army chaplaincy in context / Edward Madigan and Michael Snape

2. The nonconformist chaplain in the First World War : the importance of a new phenomenon / J.H. Thompson

3. Free church revivalism in the British Army during the First World War / Neil Allison

4. A Welsh perspective on army chaplaincy during the First World War : the letters of Abraham Rees Morgan MC / Ieuan Elfryn Jones

5. Garrisoning the nation's soul : Calvinism, Douglas Haig and Scottish Presbyterian chaplaincy on the Western Front / David Coulter

6. The theology of 'Woodbine Willie' in context / Stuart Bell

7. Chaplains in context : British Army padres and the 'bureaucracy of paternalism' in the First World War / Gary Sheffield

8. Catholic army chaplaincy and episcopal tensions : the Vatican and the appointment of an Episcopus Castrensis / James Hagerty

9. The First World War and the chaplains of British India / Michael Snape

10. Visions from the front : discourse on the post-war world among Anglican army chaplains in 1918 / Peter Howson

11. 'Shell-shocked prophets' : Anglican army chaplains and post-war reform in the Church of England / Linda Parker

12. The Royal Army Chaplains' Department and the legacy of the First World War / Alan Robinson.

Notes:

"First published 2013 by Ashgate Publishing"--t.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-317-03798-7

1-299-39816-2

1-4094-3001-4

1-315-61478-2

1-317-03799-5

9781315614786

OCLC:

1018159775