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A review by ivantable
The Great and Holy War: How World War I Became a Religious Crusade by Philip Jenkins
4.0
I wrote this review for my school's monthly magazine.
This past summer marked the 100th anniversary of First World War (1914-1918), a war often forgotten and little understood. Philip Jenkins, professor of history at Baylor University, retells the story afresh in The Great and Holy War: How World War I Became a Religious Crusade. Jenkins argues that we cannot understand the war apart from understanding its religious and spiritual aspects. "The war took place in a world in which religious faith was still the norm," he writes. Elsewhere he writes that "[r]eligion is essential to understanding the war, to understanding why people went to war, what they hoped to achieve through war, and why they stayed at war."
Jenkins does not recount the war in its entirety, but instead chooses to highlight several events and examples of the prevailing religious rhetoric. For example, he examines the national "messianic" visions of nations such as Germany and Russia and the calls-to-arms in America presented in crusading terms. In one chapter we read about the genocide of Armenians on the Eastern Front while in a different chapter he argues that the war set in motion a more activist radicalization of Islam.
Some readers will find his presentation disjointed, missing a unifying theme; others will appreciate the various selections that serve as snapshots into the religious dimensions of the war. All readers, however, will come away with a better understanding of the "Great and Holy War" and grasp how it irrevocably changed the world, even into our own present day.
This past summer marked the 100th anniversary of First World War (1914-1918), a war often forgotten and little understood. Philip Jenkins, professor of history at Baylor University, retells the story afresh in The Great and Holy War: How World War I Became a Religious Crusade. Jenkins argues that we cannot understand the war apart from understanding its religious and spiritual aspects. "The war took place in a world in which religious faith was still the norm," he writes. Elsewhere he writes that "[r]eligion is essential to understanding the war, to understanding why people went to war, what they hoped to achieve through war, and why they stayed at war."
Jenkins does not recount the war in its entirety, but instead chooses to highlight several events and examples of the prevailing religious rhetoric. For example, he examines the national "messianic" visions of nations such as Germany and Russia and the calls-to-arms in America presented in crusading terms. In one chapter we read about the genocide of Armenians on the Eastern Front while in a different chapter he argues that the war set in motion a more activist radicalization of Islam.
Some readers will find his presentation disjointed, missing a unifying theme; others will appreciate the various selections that serve as snapshots into the religious dimensions of the war. All readers, however, will come away with a better understanding of the "Great and Holy War" and grasp how it irrevocably changed the world, even into our own present day.