The Church of England and the First World War. By Alan Wilkinson. Pp.xiv, 370, Cambridge, The Lutterworth Press, 2014. Subversive Peacemakers: War Resistance 1914-1918 – An Anglican Perspective. By Clive Barrett. Pp.xi, 299, Cambridge, The Lutterworth Press, 2014. Canadian Churches and the First World War. Ed. by Gordon L. Heath. Pp.xiii, 295, Cambridge, The Lutterworth Press, 2014.

This review essay concentrates on three publications on the Great War and the Church of England. The Anglican Church was often seen as part of the establishment which was held responsible for the apparent futility and mismanagement of the war. If Alan Wilkinson is aware of this, and acknowledges a growing gulf between the army at the front and civilian life at home, on the whole speaks out for the Church of England’s efforts but he has little to say on pacifism. Clive Barrett, on the other hand, has little sympathy for the way the Church of England responded to the war, and looks at the situation from the point of view war resistance. Historian Gordon Heath looks at the various Christian churches in Canada during the First World War, focusing on their belief in a common purpose, their contributions to the war effort, and their reactions to the war as over the years the number of wounded and dead increased.