Army Chaplains Of Britain During The First World War

In the beginning of 20th century, the society of Western Europe was increasingly booming, while the churches of Britain had to face the awkward situation of day-by-day decline. Only a small proportion of people still observed the habit of going into the church, participating religious rituals and festivals. Temporal enjoyment tightly grasped the whole heart of contemporaries; on the contrary, "eternity", "the kingdom of heaven" and "hell" were all cast back to God and the Church. When the First World War burst out in summer 1914, the Church seemed to be granted a great opportunity for religious revival, of which clergy had been dreaming for years. The notion that the Church must take the god-given chance rooted in many a clergy’s minds. Therefore, innumerable clergy took an active part in the course concerning the future of nation and the destiny of the Church, took advantage of platforms to encourage congregations to join the army, and some clergy even directly join the army ignoring oppositions of their bishops, however, more clergy chose to be an army chaplain. The burden of religious revival was naturally loaded on the chaplains’ shoulders. For army chaplains, the Great War could be called the practice of religious revival.The thesis’title is "Army Chaplains of Britain during the First World War:the Struggle of’Just War’"’, and the author puts the chaplains and the Church in a longer period to investigate, including the situation of pre-war Britain and the churches of Britain, chaplains in the war, and situations concerning chaplains and the Church after the war:the period would be 1900-1920. Only in a longer period can we know roundly army chaplains during the Great War, such as their motivations, experiences, and influences on the Church. Based on this idea, the thesis has five chapters and a summary chapter to expound this rather complicated event.The first chapter mainly discusses basic circumstances of churches and the society of England in the beginning of the 20th century, a concise history of army chaplains, and attitudes and reactions of clergy to the outbreak of the Great War. The pre-war society of Britain was increasingly secularizing, while the Church was declining day by day. Under this background, the outbreak of the Great War showed to clergy a great chance of religious revival, and army chaplaincy was considered the best approach to grasp the opportunity. The second chapter basically talks about the organizing and governing of chaplains. In summer of 1915, the double-line management system, C.E. (Church of England) and non-C.E., was set up. On the one hand, it strengthened the effect of management, improved chaos of the organization of army chaplains in the beginning of the war; on the other hand, it reflected sectarianism among chaplains. In addition, numerous chaplains first entered battlefields without any experience; however, some training schools were set up until middle and late stage of the war. Therefore, its effects were very limited. The third chapter primarily discusses the relationship between chaplains and the army. From "something of an unaffordable luxury" to "a good chaplain is as valuable as a good general’", chaplains and the army found their intersection--maintaining morale. In this process, chaplains were inclined to favor needs and values of the army. The forth chapter expresses that soldiers’faiths were chaplains’concern, but in battlefields, few religious services can be practiced, because chaplains were surrounded by considerable trifles, and occasional religious practices hardly attract soldiers. Comparing to Christianity, soldiers prefer fatalism and superstitions. The fifth chapter mainly elucidates inter-denomination relationship and the relationship between front-chaplains and domestic churches. Among denominations, there was, to some extent, sectarianism, but cooperation was the mainstream. Conjunct experiences and lives made chaplains increasingly become a different group. They had real and deep understanding of faiths of the ranks, and that is an important power, which encouraged them to impel church reform.Based on the comprehensive investigation of the above-mentioned chapters, the summary expounds the meaning of the Great War to the churches of Britain. Is it the so called great chance or a disaster? The author maintains that the Church failed to achieve its religious revival, because two significant problems should have been solved, one is that the Just War Theory, which reconciles war/violence and Christian ethics, was dropping into predicament; the other is that some individual questions of soldiers could not receive straightforward answers. The Church not merely failed to get more pious believers, but also lose blocks of believers. In this sense, the Great War looks more like a disaster rather than an opportunity for the Church.