Preaching Imperialism: Wesleyan Methodism and the War1

Cuthbertson, Greg

doi:10.1057/9780230598294_9

Cited by 2 publications

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“…Raging from October 1899 to May 1902, this costly conflictwhich saw the loss of nearly 100 thousand livesdrew moral support from the vast majority of Christians, including Anglicans and Wesleyan Methodists, who believed that God was on the side of Britain and its righteous empire. 42 Their role in vilifying the Boers was particularly distasteful to John Atkinson Hobson, the anti-imperialist economist and journalist who authored The Psychology of Jingoism in 1901. Much of the blame for the war, he argued, lay at the feet of the churches, which had broadcast "a note of loud fanatical encouragement to armed Britain to go forth in Jesus' name to slay their fellows and to take their land."…”

Section: The Salvation Army and Militarismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religion in an Age of Empire: The Salvation Army and British Imperialism, 1878–1914

Eason¹

2021

Journal of Religious History

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Debates about the British Empire continue to rage, especially those concerned with its impact on domestic affairs during the Victorian and Edwardian periods. The degree to which empire mattered to average Britons at home has tended to generate polarised responses from historians. Some have sought to downplay its overall significance, whereas others have been prone to argue that its effects on society were widespread. The present article speaks into this debate by examining one notable British organisation — the Salvation Army — which came into being in the second half of the nineteenth century. While a number of scholars have addressed the imperialist implications of Army work in the colonies, much less work has been done to scrutinise the empire's influence on Salvationists within Britain itself. Looking at three characteristics frequently associated with imperialist ideology — militarism, racial othering, and devotion to the monarchy — this article contends that the Salvation Army's relationship to the British Empire was remarkably dynamic and complex during the timeframe under review. Demonstrating that Salvationist thinking and practice could both help and hinder the aims of imperialism, it points to the need for more balanced and nuanced approaches to the study of the empire in the metropole.

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Section: The Salvation Army and Militarismmentioning

confidence: 99%