World War I impacted all segments of societies.  Many tomes chronicle the battles, the mounds of dead, the armies of the disabled, reshaped topography and ecology and economic and social disruption.  Faith In Conflict examines the Impact Of The Great War On The Faith Of The People of Britain, with its focus limited to the Protestant Churches.

The Glossary of Ecclesiastical and Military Terms is a helpful reference. The photos put names to faces.  The cover, reproduced among the other photos, of the Bishop of London addressing reclining troops in France is uniquely powerful. The chapters are topically arranged.  The First Chapter Sets The Scene of the Churches, natures of religious practice, local jurisdictions, primary sources, excerpts from diaries and letters and the ubiquity of hymnody.

In the Second Chapter, “A Holy War And Favored Nation” I find parallels to the tradition of American Exceptionalism.  Reports of German soldiers brutalizing Belgian civilians alleviated doubt “it was a just war, a righteous war, and, if carried out in the spirit of our Christianity, it was a holy war”. (p.41)  The characterization of Britain as “A Favored Nation” and that its Empire were divinely ordained for the benefit of the less privileged seems a novel concept to this Irish-American, but, to the Archdeacon of Montreal “Britain is the elect nation of the world today.” (p. 46)

Chapter Three documents the use of terms, “God of Battles”, God of Hosts” and “ God of Peace”  in hymns, sermons, poetry, rhetoric and literature from peace through war to Armistice.

Chapter Four examines the seeming contradiction between an omnipotent and providential God and the horror of war.  One officer “doubts as to the existence of God, or, if He exists, doubts as to his power to interfere with the world-order” (p. 79) while another believed “my slip was an act of Providence.” (p. 78)

The Fifth Chapter, “Sacrifice and Memorialisation”, studies several themes where the martial and spiritual meet.  Is sacrifice, whether material, or even “Supreme”, human or Christian?  Did one achieve salvation through sacrifice?  Was a combat fatality “a martyr for his nation?”  How should the fallen, individually, or the War itself, be commemorated?  The extension of the practice of offering of prayers for the dead beyond Catholicism and Anglo-Catholicism was one change associated with the War.

Probably the most intensely theological Chapter is the Sixth “Beyond Sacrifice to a Suffering God”.  In it the author draws heavily on the writings of Western Front Chaplain Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy.  Kennedy rejected the understanding that God willed the War and could have stopped it and posited, instead, a God of sorrow who shares His world’s sufferings.  Adopted by a few other quoted theologians, the doctrine of a suffering God is presented as having crests and ebbs in following, but I still detect echoes in orations about a God saddened by our sin.

The Seventh Chapter sports a familiar term, “Ecumenism” with a World War I perspective.  As the War forced chaplains from competing denominations into military cooperation, questions of exchange of pulpits, and consolidation of prayer books and hymnals led to discussion of reunion of churches.  Although reforms continued for a few years their enduring power was limited.

The ultimate chapter, “Faith At The Front” consists of analysis of and quotes from writings of five Western Front soldiers reflecting their own religious views.  Jack Titterton of the 200^th Siege Battery wondered:

Is there no Truth within that ancient Word? (p.178)

Ernest Goodridge’ diary included:

"On Guard, or march, O Prince of Peace…

Be thou my Captain and my Guide

And in the conflict shield

Dismiss me to the Warrior rest

On Heaven’s white tented field".  (p.193)

Faith In Conflict is for selective Network readers.  Author Stuart Bell has crafted an intensely researched investigation of the interaction between the War and religion in Britain during the Great War.  Each chapter is largely independent.  This work provides insights into the religious environment of early Twentieth Century Britain. The reader who opens it pages should be ready to ponder and reflect.  He will be challenged to compare his own religiosity with the that of century ago.  It poses question as contemporary as historic: “Are we to have peace at any price and allow a maniac to dominate this country and the whole of Europe?”  We study history to learn how our world came to be.  Faith In Conflict delivers.