Faith Under Fire Anglican Army Chaplains and the Great War [Hardcover]

After the Great War some texts by British Army veterans portrayed the Anglican chaplains who had served with them in an extremely negative light. This book examines the realities of Anglican chaplains' wartime experiences and presents a compelling picture of what it meant to be a clergyman-in-uniform in the most devastating war in modern history.List of Illustrations, Tables and Charts Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction: Anglican Army Chaplains and Post-War Literature The Church of England, The European War, and the Great Opportunity A Portrait of the Edwardian Clergy The Anglican Clergy-in-Uniform The Ministry of the Trenches Combatant Faith on the Western Front Veteran Padres and the Idealism of Fellowship in Post-war Britain Conclusion: Why the Myth? Notes Bibliography Index

'This is an impressive first book that, aside from its contribution to the history of Christianity, is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the British army in the First World War.' - Gary Sheffield, Twentieth Century British History

'Edward Madigan has stripped away from the padres of the Great War old clich?s and replaced them with a powerful study of the ways men of the cloth served the men at the front. No crusades or revivals here: but something more lasting - brotherhood and consolation. An important addition to the historical literature on Britain at war.' - Jay Winter, Yale University, USA

'Madigan's book brilliantly explodes the myth that Anglican chaplains had a 'bad war'. Using a broad range of sources and a critical historical sympathy, Madigan sets these men back into the context from which they came, and in the process illuminates their expectations for the coming conflict, the part they played in the war culture of the British army on the Western Front, and how the myth of their inadequacy developed. The result is a star-shell of a book that illuminates the history of male religiosity as well as the human experienlc(