An examination of the role played by British Christians across the Free Churches in the public debates about war and peace in the first half of the 20th century.
Surveying experience across the Free Churches, this book considers the involvement of British Christians in the public debates about the justification and conduct of war and the pursuit of peace in the first half of the 20th century.
It explores church involvement with issues like Great War conscientious objectors, World War One rhetoric, the commemoration of war, and the arms trade of the mid-20th century. War, Peace and the British Free Churches in the Early Twentieth Century shines a light on the significance of key individuals, such as Walter Mursell, Padre Ernest Lodge Watson and Henry Carter, and gives balanced coverage to the public participation of Methodists, Baptists, Congregationalists and more.
The book examines the Free Church interactions with the League of Nations and its engagements with ideological discussions around Liberalism and Pacifism in the period. Indeed the era addressed by the volume is widely acknowledged as a time in which the Free Churches enjoyed a height in popular adherence across much of British society, rivalling and often eclipsing the 'Establishment'; the book therefore provides a vital understanding of a previously neglected and yet critical dimension of Britain's relationship with peace and conflict in the 20th century.
Arvustused
This rich volume sheds new light on the Nonconformist Conscience and the chapels attitudes to armed conflict during and between the twentieth centurys two world wars. The result of fresh research, it is not only historically insightful but has much to teach us today when wars and rumours of wars abound. * D. Densil Morgan, Emeritus Professor in Theology, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, UK * During the fateful years 1914-1945, dominated by wars and rumours of wars, members of the Free Churches of England and Wales played key roles as reluctant conscripts, military chaplains, absolute pacifists and dedicated internationalists. These fifteen vivid case studies demonstrate their conscientious internal struggles and their significant influence over others * David Bebbington, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Stirling, UK * This is a rich and important study which shows the depth and variety of Free Church attitudes to war and peace in the twentieth century. It will be required reading for students of war, history and religion in the period. * William Gibson, Emeritus Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Oxford Brookes University, UK * A most informative book, which will resource both the specialist and more general reader. * Baptist Quarterly *
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An examination of the role played by British Christians across the Free Churches in the public debates about war and peace in the first half of the 20th century.
Introduction
Andrew Chandler, University of Chichester
Oxfords Free Churches and the outbreak of the Great War in
1914.
Martin Wellings, Oxford Centre for Methodism and Church History, Oxford
Brookes University
The Fellowship of trial: Religious Rhetoric in the First World War: The
Sermons of Walter Mursell, Minister of Thomas Coats Memorial Baptist Church,
Paisley.
Brian Talbot, Senior Research Fellow, International Baptist Theological
Seminary, Amsterdam
Padre Ernest Lodge Watson (1878-1951) and Army Chaplaincy during the First
World War.
Neil Allison, Official Historian to the United Navy, Army and Air Force
Board; Highland Theological College, University of Highlands and Islands
Who speaks for the Christians? The Great War and Conscientious Objectors in
the Church of Christ: An Expansion in Tribute to Mike Casey.
Peter Ackers, Emeritus Professor, Loughborough University
Methodism and Military Chaplaincy, 1900-30
Peter Howson, honorary research fellow, Oxford Brookes University.
The Colleges of Mansfield Road, Oxford, in the era of the Great War
David Seymour, Independent scholar
Strict Baptist Reactions to War, 1914-19
Kenneth Dix and Judith James, Strict Baptist Historical Society
The Warmongering Pacifist: A Family Story
John G. Ellis, Former Moderator, United Reformed Church
From pride in the Living to Commemorating the Dead: Rolls of Honour in the
First World War.
Anne C. Brook, Independent scholar
Divinely Ordained for the World's Life: The Free Churches and the League of
Nations
Markku Ruotsila, University of Helsinki
Building Gods Kingdom on Earth: Lord Davies of Llandinum, Gwilym Davies and
Christianising the Interwar Quest for Peace.
Evan Lawry, University of Aberystwyth
Henry Carter, British Methodism and the Search for Peace.
Michael Hughes, Professor of Modern History, University of Lancaster
Swords and Ploughshares: The Free Churches and the Arms Trade in
twentieth-Century Britain.
Pippa Catterall, Professor of History and Policy, University of Westminster
British Congregationalism, Liberalism and Pacifism in the middle twentieth
century: the place of Nathaniel Micklem.
Andrew Chandler, University of Chichester
Martyn Lloyd Jones and the Evangelical Response to War and Peace.
David Ceri Jones, University of Aberystwyth
Index
Andrew Chandler is Professor in Modern History at the University of Chichester, UK. He is the author of several books, including The Church of England in the Twentieth Century: The Church Commissioners and the Politics of Reform (2005) and George Bell, Bishop of Chichester: Church, State and Resistance in the Age of Dictatorship (2016).
David Ceri Jones is Reader in Modern History at University of Aberystwyth, UK. He has written several books, including most recently, as a co-author, A History of Christianity in Wales (2022).
