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Guns, Gore and God: Bishop Gore and the First World War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2017

Peter Waddell
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Abstract

Many have been deeply critical of the Church of England’s response to the First World War, which has been seen as insufficiently critical of Government policy and too influenced by the war spirit. Charles Gore (Bishop of Oxford, 1911–19) provides a fascinating case study of how one independently minded Anglican thinker arrived at swift and unwavering support for the war, while simultaneously trying to mount a ‘counterpoise’ to some elements of the war mentality. This article describes and evaluates Gore’s use of the just war tradition, and the efficacy of the counterpoise he attempted. Analysis of his thought reveals a curious mix of hard-headed strategic realism about what would secure a just and lasting peace, and striking naiveté about what war actually entailed.

Keywords

Charles GoreChurch of EnglandFirst World Warjust warLeague of Nationspacifism
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Anglican Studies , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , May 2017 , pp. 88 - 107
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Copyright
© The Journal of Anglican Studies Trust 2017 

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Footnotes

1.

The Revd Dr Peter Waddell is Vicar of Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, UK and a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Winchester.

References

2. Barrett, Clive, Subversive Peacemakers: War Resistance 1914–18, An Anglican Perspective (Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 2014), p. 162 Google Scholar.

3. Wilkinson, Alan, The Church of England and the First World War (Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 2nd edn, 2014), p. 58 Google Scholar.

4. See Wilkinson, Church of England, p. 133. For an example of the high esteem given to ‘Woodbine Willie’ (Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy) see Holman, Bob, Woodbine Willie: An Unsung Hero of World War One (Oxford: Lion, 2012)Google Scholar.

5. See Madigan, Edward, Faith under Fire: Anglican Army Chaplains and the Great War (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6. Wilkinson, Church of England, p. 254 – the speaker quoted is Revd Basil Bourchier.

7. For a general introduction to Gore, see Waddell, Peter, Charles Gore: Radical Anglican (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2014)Google Scholar.

8. Prestige, G.L., The Life of Charles Gore: A Great Englishman (London: William Heinemann, 1935), p. 224 Google Scholar.

9. Gore’s October 1902 letter to The Times denouncing the camps is reproduced in Waddell, Charles Gore, pp. 156-57.

10. For the Church of England Peace League, see Barrett, Subversive Peacemakers, pp. 26-27.

11. See Wilkinson, Alan, The Community of the Resurrection: A Centenary History (London: SCM Press, 1992), p. 264 Google Scholar.

12. Prestige, Charles Gore pp. 369-74.

13. Gore, Charles, Crisis in Church and Nation (Oxford: Mowbray, 1915)Google Scholar.

14. Sources not utilized here are the reports of two committees established by the Archbishops in 1917 to report upon ‘The Teaching Office of the Church’ and ‘Christianity and Industrial Problems’ (published with the reports of three other committees as The Reports of the Archbishops’ Committees of Inquiry [London: SPCK, 1919]). Gore sat on both committees, and their conclusions reflect much of what he wrote in his own capacity. Nothing in them suggests a significantly different perspective than that attributed to Gore throughout this article.

15. Cited in Barrett, Subversive Peacemakers, p. 19.

16. Evans, G.R., Edward Hicks: Pacifist Bishop at War: The Diaries of a World War One Bishop (Oxford: Lion, 2014), p. 65 Google Scholar.

17. Gore, Charles, The League of Nations: The Opportunity of the Church (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1919), p. 16 Google Scholar.

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19. Gore, League of Nations, p. 23.

20. Reported in Prestige, Charles Gore, p. 388 – it is not clear whether Prestige actually believes the story.

21. Gore, Charles, The Sermon on the Mount: A Practical Exposition (London: John Murray, 1896), p. 84 Google Scholar.

22. Gore, Charles, The Religion of the Church as Presented in the Church of England: A Manual of Membership (Oxford: Mowbray, 1916), pp. 104–105 Google Scholar.

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24. Gore, Charles, Patriotism and the Bible (Oxford: Mowbray, 1915), p. 11 Google Scholar.

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27. Jenkins, Great and Holy War, pp. 38-39.

28. Barrett, Subversive Peacemakers, pp. 38-39.

29. Bell, ‘The Church and the First World War’, p. 38.

30. Hauerwas, Stanley, ‘War and Peace’, in In the End: Eschatological Reflections on Church, Politics and Life (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013), pp. 120–137 Google Scholar; quote from p. 133.

31. Hauerwas, ‘War and Peace’, p. 135, n. 35.

32. Letter to The Daily Telegraph, 29 November 1917.

33. For Davidson, see Wilkinson Church of England, p. 228; for Asquithian Liberals, see Douglas, Roy, ‘The Background to the “Coupon” Election Arrangements’, The English Historical Review, 86.339 (April 1971), pp. 318–336 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; quote from p. 320.

34. Fest, W.B., ‘British War Aims (December 1916–November 1918)’, The Historical Journal, 15.2 (June, 1972) pp. 285–308 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; quote from p. 303.

35. Gore, The League of Nations, pp. 21-22.

36. Wilkinson, Church of England, p. 270; and see Cline, Catherine, ‘Ecumenism and Appeasement: The Bishops of the Church of England and the Treaty of Versailles’, The Journal of Modern History, 61.4 (December, 1989), pp. 683–703 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, for a fuller account of criticism of Versailles from the post-war English bishops.

37. Biggar, Nigel, In Defence of War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), p. 143 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

38. Gore, Charles, ‘Sacrifice and National Penitence’ included in The War and the Church and Other Addresses: Being the Charge delivered at his Primary Visitation in 1914 (Oxford: Mowbray, 1914), pp. 59–77 Google Scholar; quote from pp. 61-63.

39. Cited in Wilkinson, The Church of England, pp. 101-102.

40. Prestige, Charles Gore, p. 389.

41. Bell, ‘The Church and the First World War’, p. 43.

42. Barrett, Subversive Peacemakers, p. 154.

43. Barrett, Subversive Peacemakers, p. 86.

44. Gore, Charles, ‘Conscientious Objectors’, a speech in the House of Lords, Hansard, Fifth Series, Vol. XXIX, Session 1918, 12 February–16 May, Columns 903-905 (30 April 1918)Google Scholar.

45. Letter to the Daily News, Daily Chronicle, and Manchester Guardian, 30 March 1916. Cited in Barrett, Subversive Peacemakers, p. 260, n. 53.

46. Barrett, Subversive Peacemakers, p. 126.

47. Gore, Charles, ‘The Treatment of Conscientious Objectors’, a speech in the House of Lords, Hansard, Fifth Series, Vol. XXI, Session 1916, 15 February–18 May, columns 904-12 (4 May 1916)Google Scholar.

48. Wilkinson, Church of England, p. 9.

49. Gore, Charles, ‘The Idea of the Catholic Church’, included in Crisis in Church and Nation, pp. 27-36 Google Scholar; quote from p. 34.

50. Gore, ‘The Idea of the Catholic Church’, p. 33.

51. Gore, Charles, Christianity Applied to the Life of Men and Nations: The Essex Hall Lecture (London: The Lindsey Press, 1920), p .46Google Scholar.

52. Charles Gore, ‘The War and the Church’, in The War and the Church, pp. 1-20; quote from p. 14.

53. Gore, Charles, ‘The Present Scheme for a League of Nations’, a speech in the House of Lords, Hansard, Fifth Series, Vol. XXX, Session 1918, 28 May–26 July (26 June 1918)Google Scholar.

54. Charles Gore, ‘The Opportunity for Prayer’, included in The War and the Church, pp. 21-39; quote from p. 26.

55. Gore, Patriotism and the Bible, p. 11.

56. Wilkinson, Church of England, pp. 175-78.

57. See the survey in Jenkins, Great and Holy War, pp. 100-107.

58. Walter, Kerry (ed.), After War: Is Faith Possible? G.A. Studdert Kennedy: An Anthology (Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 2008), pp. 61–62 Google Scholar.

59. Wilkinson, Church of England, p. 40.

60. Jenkins, Great and Holy War, p. 58.

61. Cited in Barrett, Subversive Peacemakers, p. 260.

62. Gore, Christianity Applied to the Life of Men and Nations, p. 46.

63. Gore, Charles, The Incarnation of the Son of God: Being the Bampton Lectures for the Year 1891 (London: John Murray, 1891), p. 36 Google Scholar.

64. Barrett, Subversive Peacemakers, p. 159.

65. Gore, The League of Nations, p. 27.

66. Barrett, Subversive Peacemakers, p. 75. See p. 77 for Royden’s lack of moral discrimination between the Allies and Germany.

67. Wilkinson, Church of England, p. 230.

68. See Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, The Hardest Part (1919); acknowledged by Moltmann in The Trinity and the Kingdom of God (London: SCM Press, 1981), p. 35.

69. Wilkinson, The Church of England, p. 2.

70. Wilkinson, The Church of England, p. 90.

71. Wilkinson, The Church of England, p. 231.

72. Avis, Paul, Gore: Construction and Conflict (Worthing: Churchman, 1988), p. 45 Google Scholar. The reference is to Gore, Charles, The Philosophy of the Good Life: The Gifford Lectures for 1929–30 (London: John Murray, 1930), p. 3 Google Scholar.

73. Charles Gore, The Epistles of St. John (London: John Murray, 1920), p. 177.

74. Gore, Charles, ‘A Better England’, in Crisis in Church and Nation, pp. 37-48 Google Scholar; quote from pp. 40-41.

75. Prestige, Charles Gore, p. 371.

76. Prestige, Charles Gore, p. 125.

77. Gore, Christianity Applied to the Life of Men and Nations, p. 34.

78. Jenkins, Great and Holy War, p. 40.

79. Prestige, Charles Gore, p. 369.