Between the Home Front and the Battlefield - "Images of War" in Protestant Sermons and Devotional Literature of World War I

这项研究项目调查了第一次世界大战期间西南部德国(巴拉蒂纳、巴登、符腾堡、黑森和阿尔萨斯)新教布道和虔诚文学中的神学“战争图像”--对战争的解释。因此，它侧重于一个特别受战争事件影响的地理空间，因为它离西线很近。通过将阿尔萨斯纳入其中，该项目还调查了最近于1871年并入德意志帝国的一个边境地区。阿尔萨斯的神学家尤其关注民族认同的形成问题。这些资料来源包括来自列出的州教堂的新教牧师个人文件中的印刷和手写布道，以及教堂出版商在战争期间出售和分发的虔诚文学。这包括为所谓的后方前线以及前线士兵撰写的布道和虔诚文学。到目前为止，新教教会一直面临着指控，即它在20世纪两次世界大战期间的活动与基督的教义相矛盾。这个认为自己是神学、道德和政治事务权威的教会，在第一次世界大战无疑呈现的极端政治和社会环境中，实际上是如何行事的？所调查的来源深深植根于历史和政治传统，以及十九世纪的神学。该项目将通过这些传统的棱镜，采用以下分析类别来重建这些战争形象：圣经解释、历史解释、系统神学/伦理观点和实践神学观点。我对主要资料来源的初步调查表明，不可能确定1914-1918年期间的统一战争图像。相反，对这场战争有不同的解释，这取决于各自牧师的神学和个人观点及其在社会中的地位，以及他布道的背景。利用案例研究，该项目将展示个人教士提出的战争形象是如何在战争过程中因各自的神职人员及其会众经历战争而发展和转变的。这项研究的一个重要的初步结论是，对战争的解释往往被末世论因素主导，这些因素也是为了激励信徒在战争期间以伦理和道德上正确的方式行事。牧师有针对性地使用布道和虔诚的文学作品来传播由教会指导的“战争虔诚”。这一研究对宗教事工与虔诚的历史研究有一定的贡献，也有助于在历史进程中探讨宗教与政治的关系。

This research project investigates theological “war images” – interpretations of the war – in Protestant sermons and devotional literature from southwest German (Palatinate, Baden, Württemberg, Hessen, and Alsace) during the First World War. It thus focuses on a geographical space that was particularly affected by the events of the war, given its close proximity to the western front. Through the inclusion of Alsace, the project also investigates a border region which was incorporated into the German Empire as recently as 1871. Theologians in Alsace were particularly engaged by questions of national identity formation. The sources include printed and handwritten sermons from the personal papers of Protestant clergymen from the state churches listed, as well as devotional literature, which was sold and distributed by church publishers during the war. This includes sermons and devotional literature written both for the so-called home front, as well as for soldiers at the front. Right up to the present, the Protestant church has been confronted with the accusation that its activities during both the world wars of the twentieth century contradicted the teachings of Christ. How did this church, which viewed itself as an authority on theological, moral and political matters, actually act in the extreme political and social circumstances which World War I undoubtedly presented? The sources investigated are deeply rooted in historical and political tradition, and in nineteenth-century theology. The project will reconstruct these war images through the prism of these traditions by employing the following analytical categories: biblical interpretation, historical interpretation, the systematic-theological/ethical perspective, and the practical-theological perspective. My initial survey of the primary sources indicates that it is not possible to identify a uniform war image for the period 1914–1918. Instead, there were different interpretations of the war, which varied depending on the theological and personal perspective of the respective clergyman and his position in society, as well as the context in which he was delivering the sermon. Using case studies, the project will show how the war images advanced by individual churchmen developed and were transformed during the course of the war as a result of how the respective clergymen and their congregations experienced the war. An important preliminary conclusion of this research is that interpretations of the war were often dominated by eschatological elements, which were also intended to motivate the faithful to act in an ethically and morally correct way during the war. Sermons and devotional literature were used by clergymen in a targeted way to disseminate a “war piety” directed by the church. This study makes a contribution to historical research on religious ministry and piety, and also contributes to the discussion on the relationship between religion and politics during the course of history.