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

本研究项目调查了第一次世界大战期间德国西南部（普法尔茨、巴登、符腾堡、黑森州和阿尔萨斯）新教布道和灵修文学中的神学“战争形象”——对战争的解释。因此，它的重点是一个地理空间，特别受战争事件的影响，因为它靠近西线。通过阿尔萨斯，该项目还调查了1871年并入德意志帝国的边境地区。阿尔萨斯的神学家特别关注国家认同形成的问题。这些资料来源包括所列国家教会新教牧师的个人文件中的印刷和手写布道，以及战争期间由教会出版商出售和分发的宗教文献。这包括为所谓的后方和前线士兵写的布道和祈祷文学。直到现在，新教教会一直面临着这样的指责，即它在20世纪两次世界大战中的活动与基督的教义相矛盾。这个自认为是神学、道德和政治事务权威的教会，在第一次世界大战无疑带来的极端政治和社会环境中，实际上是如何行动的？所调查的资料来源深深植根于历史和政治传统，以及19世纪的神学。该项目将通过使用以下分析类别，通过这些传统的棱镜重建这些战争图像：圣经解释，历史解释，系统神学/伦理观点和实践神学观点。我对原始资料的初步调查表明，不可能确定1914-1918年期间的统一战争图像。相反，人们对战争有不同的解释，这些解释取决于牧师各自的神学和个人观点，以及他在社会中的地位，以及他发表布道的背景。通过案例研究，该项目将展示由个别牧师推进的战争形象是如何在战争过程中发展和转变的，这是各自的牧师和他们的会众如何经历战争的结果。这项研究的一个重要初步结论是，对战争的解释往往被末世论因素所主导，这也旨在激励信徒在战争期间以伦理和道德正确的方式行事。牧师们有针对性地利用布道和灵修文献来传播由教会指导的“战争虔诚”。本研究对宗教事奉与虔诚的历史研究有一定贡献，对历史进程中宗教与政治关系的探讨也有一定贡献。

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.