The War and the Gospel: Sermons and Addresses During the Present War

Wace, Henry, 1836-1924Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.1

Word count: 275K words
Chapters: 28

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The War and the Gospel: Sermons and Addresses During the Present War by Henry WaceAuthor: Wace, Henry, 1836-1924,Language: English, Class: D501: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: World War I (1914-1918), Release Date: Jul 20, 2017

Editor's review

This is a collection of sermons and addresses delivered during the First World War by the Anglican theologian Henry Wace, a primary source at the intersection of war history and religious thought. Its value lies not in battle detail but in showing how British clergy of the time understood the war through Christian faith, rallied morale, and addressed the problem of suffering. Readers gain insight into wartime public oratory, modes of moral argument, and the tension between religion and the nation-state. For those studying the social mentality of WWI, religious history, or English sermons from the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, such primary material conveys the tone of the moment better than later summaries. Read it as a historical text rather than devotional literature, noting its period limitations while appreciating its rhetorical rhythm and strategy.

Who it's for

A good fit for

University students and scholars of WWI social and religious history
Readers interested in English sermons and wartime rhetoric
Researchers needing primary English sources for textual analysis
General readers seeking to understand early twentieth-century Christian views of war

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking modern devotional guidance or daily meditation
Military enthusiasts expecting systematic campaign narratives and battle details
Readers impatient with religious discourse and archaic English

Reading tips

Begin with the table of contents and preface to grasp the timing and themes of each sermon.
Read the sermons alongside contemporaneous WWI events, noting the speaking context and audience.
Skim unfamiliar religious terms on a first pass, then return to map the argumentative structure.
Select two or three sermons for close reading and note-taking, observing how rhetoric serves wartime mobilization.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a collection of sermons?

It is a collection of sermons and addresses by Henry Wace during the First World War—religious oratory and wartime documents, not fiction, and not driven by narrative plot.

Can I read it without knowing Christian theology?

Yes, but it requires patience. The book contains extensive biblical quotation and theological argument; general readers can first grasp each piece's core thesis and historical context, then work through its religious expression.

What language level does the book require?

The original is in English, in the formal sermon style of the early twentieth century, with long sentences and somewhat archaic diction. It suits readers with university-level English who are willing to consult a dictionary.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Wace, Henry, 1836-1924 Author

Henry Wace (1836–1924) was an English Anglican clergyman and theological scholar active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; many details of his life and academic work are only sparsely recorded in publicly available sources. One work of his is held in this collection: The War and the Gospel: Sermons and Addresses During the Present War. As the title indicates, the book addresses the relationship between war and Christian faith, gathering sermons and public addresses delivered during the war. Writing of this kind typically draws on biblical texts and applies the author's theological standpoint to current events, combining religious exhortation with concern for the real world in a dignified and measured style. For readers studying how religious circles responded to social crisis in wartime, the book offers a concrete textual example; given the limited sources, its specific historical influence cannot yet be examined in detail.