Bible in World War One

I haven't posted on here for over a month, and the main reason is that I have been very busy engaged with another project I'd like to share on here.  With the centennial commemorations of World War One fast approaching, I have been asked by the Bible Society to undertake some research about the importance of the Bible in British Society during that conflict.  My task is to find some information about the scope and impact of the Bible generally, and more specific information on its use among soldiers, conscientious objectors and women on the home front.  The work will feature on their website and some of the research will make it into a publication they are planning on distributing.

Providentially a few days before being asked to undertake this work, I decided to spend a few moments before a meeting strolling through the churchyard at St Oswald Church, Finningley, near Doncaster.  It just so happened that on that beautiful late summer's morning the church was being prepared for Sunday service by two ladies.  I noted the usual points of interest; the list of bequests stretching back to the early 1700s and the memorial inscriptions to the great and the good of the parish, when my eyes were arrested by the altar window pictured below:

 

 

The window depicts the devastation of the battlefield on the left panel and the grimness of trench warfare.  The centre panel shows Christ raising the fallen Tommy up to heaven where on the right panel trumpeting angels await the heroic soldier.  Beneath is the quotation, `Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.' (John 15:13).

 

This forms the starting point of my research.  Did the soldiers believe they were displaying Godly love?  Did their sacrifice have religious connotations, and how important were the words of the Bible in guiding their actions.

 

Therefore this blog will now include aspects of Christian faith from both major conflicts of the twentieth century.