Abstract
The role of the Bible in Great Britain and the United States in the era of the two World Wars offers new insights into the nature and trajectory of religious change in contemporary British and American society, and not least the much-vaunted religious impact of the First World War. By focusing on the use and the significance of the Bible during these conflicts, and especially its role in and for the British and American armed forces, this article illustrates the uneven quality of inter-war secularization on both sides of the Atlantic. Although rarely considered as a measure of religious change in this period, it underlines the enduring cultural significance of the Bible for Britons and Americans alike, demonstrates the Bible’s burgeoning importance during the years of the Second World War, and indicates that this development helped prepare the ground for the religious revival of the post-war era, and most notably the transatlantic success of Billy Graham.
Works Cited
Manuscripts
Imperial War Museum, Department of Documents, E.C. Crosse.
University of Birmingham, Cadbury Research Library. Bishop Llewellyn Henry Gwynne Papers.
Newspapers and Periodicals
The Chaplain.
Christian Herald.
The Church Times.
Hansard House of Commons Debates.
The Link.
The Times.
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©2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- The Bible in America and Britain at War
- Making the Bible Safe for Democracy: American Methodists and the First World War
- “The Bible is the Word of God.… What does it Tell us About War?”
- Bishops, Baby-Killers and Broken Teeth: Psalm 58 and the Air War
- “All War is Contrary to the Mind of Christ:” The Bible and the Fellowship of Reconciliation
- The Bible and the British and American Armed Forces in Two World Wars
- “The Merchants of Tarshish, with all the Young Lions Thereof.” The British Empire, Scripture Prophecy, and the War of Armageddon, 1914–1918
- Ecclesiasticus, War Graves, and the Secularization of British Values
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- The Bible in America and Britain at War
- Making the Bible Safe for Democracy: American Methodists and the First World War
- “The Bible is the Word of God.… What does it Tell us About War?”
- Bishops, Baby-Killers and Broken Teeth: Psalm 58 and the Air War
- “All War is Contrary to the Mind of Christ:” The Bible and the Fellowship of Reconciliation
- The Bible and the British and American Armed Forces in Two World Wars
- “The Merchants of Tarshish, with all the Young Lions Thereof.” The British Empire, Scripture Prophecy, and the War of Armageddon, 1914–1918
- Ecclesiasticus, War Graves, and the Secularization of British Values