Defending the faith : global histories of apologetics and politics in the 20th century / edited by Todd H. Weir and Hugh McLeod.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Weir, Todd H., editor.

McLeod, Hugh, editor.

Series:

Proceedings of the British Academy ; 232.

Proceedings of the British Academy, 0068-1202 ; 232

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Religion and politics--History--20th century.

Religion and politics.

History.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

x, 308 pages ; 24 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2020.

Summary:

This volume explores the many ways in which conflicts between secular worldviews and religions shaped the history of the twentieth century. It introduces the notion of 'apologetics' to highlight a common feature of these conflicts: both secular and religious groups employed a mixture of learned argument and popular propaganda to defend their faith, but also to come up with new forms of outreach and mission. By bringing the dynamics of religious and secular apologetics into a comparative perspective, and drawing on examples from Western Europe, the USSR, the USA, North Africa and Asia from the 1920s to the present, the volume offers important historical perspectives on current debates over the place of religion in contemporary politics.

Contents:

Part I Apologetics in Interwar Europe p. 17

1 The Apologetics of Modern Culture Wars: The Case of Weimar Germany p. 19 / Todd H. Weir

2 Ideology and Futurology in Early 20th-century Britain: Wells, Haldane, Bernal, and Their Critics p. 38 / Peter J. Bowler

3 Vivat Christus Rex! The Cult of Christ the King, Vatican Apologetics, Catholic Action, and the Far Right p. 57 / John Pollard

4 Between Rome and the Godless: Martin Niemöller's Apologetic Moves, 1930-50 p. 74 / Benjamin Ziemann

5 British and Muslim? British Converts and Their Apologetics for Islam in the Interwar Period p. 95 / Umar Ryad

Part II Transnational Apologetics during the Cold War p. 117

6 From Mental Slavery to Brainwashing: Anti-Catholic Legacies in Anti-Communist Polemics p. 119 / Jennifer M. Miller and Udi Greenberg

7 'Communism Is a Religion That Is Inspired, Directed and Motivated by the Devil Himself: Billy Graham's Apologetics and the Cold War West p. 141 / Uta Andrea Balbier

8 The Apologetics of Decolonisation: Defending Religion in South and Southeast Asia after the Second World War p. 160 / Clemens Six

9 Atheism as a Vocation: Soviet Communism and Its Atheist Apologists p. 182 / Victoria Smolkin

Part III Apologetics since the 1960s p. 209

10 Sacred Values: Islam, Communism, and Moroccan Nationalism in the Long 1960s p. 211 / Alma Rachel Heckman

11 'A World to Be Transfigured': Shaping a Cold War Vision of Orthodoxy from the South p. 231 / Vlad Naumescu

12 Louis Jacobs, Revelation, and the Ongoing Battle to Defend Jewish Orthodoxy p. 249 / Miri Freud-Kandel

13 Recognising Secularisation: The Church of England and its Struggle for a Political Role (1960-90) p. 272 / Peter Itzen.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780197266915

0197266916

OCLC:

1184099734