Sacred and Secular Martyrdom in Britain and Ireland since 1914
Ebook
During and immediately after the First World War, there was a merging of Christian and nationalist traditions of martyrdom, expressed in the design of war cemeteries and war memorials, and the state funeral of the Unknown Warrior in 1920. John Wolffe explores the subsequent development of these traditions of 'sacred' and 'secular' martyrdom, analysing the ways in which they operated - sometimes in parallel, sometimes merged together and sometimes in conflict with each other.
Particular topics explored include the Protestant commemoration of Marian and missionary martyrs, and the Roman Catholic campaign for the canonization of the 'saints and martyrs of England'. Secular martyrdom is discussed in relation to military conflicts especially the Second World War and the Falklands. In Ireland there was a particularly persistent merging of sacred and secular martyrdom in the wake of the Easter Rising of 1916 although by the time of the Northern Ireland 'Troubles' in the later twentieth-century these traditions diverged. In covering these themes, the book also offers historical and comparative context for understanding present-day acts of martyrdom in the form of suicide attacks.
Explores the ongoing relationships between religious and nationalistic martyrdom from WW1 to the present.
Provides historical and comparative context for understanding present-day suicide attacks
Makes nuanced and innovative links between the history of war and the history of religion
A distinctive contribution to the literature on memory and commemoration
Preface
1. Varieties of Martyrdom
2. The Cross of Sacrifice: Commemorating the Dead of the First World War
3. Faiths of their Fathers and their Children: Varieties of Martyrdom in Inter-War Britain
4. From Easter to Good Friday: Martyrs for Ireland
5. Christian Martyrdom and War Remembrance: From the Second World War to the Falklands
6. Rejecting and Reinventing Martyrdom: The Sacred and the Secular since the 1980s
7. Conclusion: The Legacies of History
Appendix: Interviewee Key Characteristics and Dates
Bibliography
Index
This is a lucid, engaging and fascinating account of sacred and secular martyrdom in Britain and Ireland since the outbreak of the First World War. Drawing on a wide range of original material, Wolffe sheds fresh light on the contested and malleable nature of Martyrdom. This timely book raises significant questions about how martyrs are created, remembered and debated over
Compelling and well-written, this book traces the fading away of a very old idea – that that those who die for a cause are martyrs. Tracing the fragmentation of British society since the 1960s and the turn away from civil war in Ireland North and South from the 1980s, Wolffe has produced a powerful study of the evolution of the sacred in political language over the last century. There is no book like it in the field of social and cultural history.
A worthwhile addition to the historiography of memorialization in Britain.
In each chapter, Wolffe skilfully guides the reader through the complex engagement between Church (mainly Church of England) and Government over how to interpret, remember, and commemorate the fallen in war. ... [T]his is a valuable study on an important and controversial topic.
This is a rich and immensely enjoyable book, one that will widely appeal to audiences in the UK. Its accessible style means that it will be used by undergraduates and postgraduates alike, who will find much to inspire them in its pages. Wolffe set himself a difficult task in writing this monograph but one which he achieved in producing a significant and thought-provoking book.
This is a sensitive discussion and in its excavation of the place of religious themes in a national culture it has much in common with Wolffe's fine, earlier work … [Sacred and Secular Martyrdom in Britain and Ireland since 1914] remains the work of a conspicuously sensitive, observant historian who has helped us to recognize something that the accumulating judgments of more conventionally minded historians might well have preferred to ignore.
- Title: Sacred and Secular Martyrdom in Britain and Ireland since 1914
- Author: John Wolffe
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
- Print Publication Date: 2019
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781350019287, 9781350019270, 1350019275, 1350019283
- Resource ID: LLS:9781350019287
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-04-09T01:16:46Z
John Wolffe is Professor of Religious History at the Open University, UK, and recently (2013-15) held an RCUK Global Uncertainties Leadership Fellowship which supported the research for this book. He is the author of numerous books and articles on modern North Atlantic religious history, especially evangelicalism, religion and nationalism and responses to death.