"God, Germany, and Britain in the Great War" compares the patriotic preaching of two major combatants in World War II--Germany and Great Britain. The core material for the study is the war sermons of the British and German clergy of 1914-1918, but the author also employs numerous speeches, books, addresses, pamphlets, and journal articles to support his arguments. As Hoover demonstrates, the Protestant churchmen played a significant role in the First World War as religion became a key ingredient in the war fever experienced on both sides. Religious historians as well as historians of World...

Many Britains had distinct religious or theological interpretations of World War II. They viewed Fascism, especially the German National Socialism, as a form of modern paganism, a repulsive worship of Leader, Race, and State--a form of idolatry. However, for the most part, British clerics did not defend the war as a simple matter of Christian Britain versus Pagan Germany, because they saw only too well the pagan elements in British culture. Instead, the clergy defended the war as a defense of Christian civilization, a particular religious culture that had grown up under the aegis of the...