Reading Anzac Religion and the Sacred
The Bible as a Central Text and Artefact of Australian Soldiers' Experience of the First World War
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10198179 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael Gladwin (0000-0001-7065-4526, Charles Sturt University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 196-221 |
| Publication date | 2023-02-08 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Religious History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-4227 • E-ISSN: 1467-9809 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1467-9809.12939 |
| OpenAlex | W4319785864 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 5 |
This article demonstrates the resilience of religious traditions and practices among Australian soldiers, and the need for caution about presuming connections between the experience of modern war and secularisation. A core argument is that the Bible should be understood as a central text and cultural artefact of Australian soldiers' experience of the First World War. The pocket New Testament was the most widely possessed book among Australian soldiers, and probably the most read and valued. For many it offered profound religious, moral, and emotional consolation. For others it possessed talismanic qualities, conjured home associations, or became an “object of memory.” Communal reading practices made Testaments prominent in the aural experience of war, but such practices could also elicit antipathy towards religion. Taken together, these findings inform scholarship on the mentalités and material culture of Australian war experience, challenging the longstanding scholarly and popular myth of the secular Australian soldier. Additionally, the article breaks new ground in situating Australian experience within a substantial international scholarship on the crucial role of religion (both official and popular) among soldiers of all combatant nations. Partly due to its majority Protestant population, Australian soldiers' Bible possession and usage resembled that of Anglo‐Saxon and German Protestants
Political science · Protestantism · Religious experience · Scholarship · Sociology · Australian History and Society · Gender Studies · Historical and Architectural Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · Religious studies · Religious Tourism and Spaces
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |