Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 272
Trim: 6 x 9
978-0-7425-3498-8 • Hardback • October 2004 • $139.00 • (£107.00)
978-0-7425-3499-5 • Paperback • September 2004 • $53.00 • (£41.00)
978-0-7425-7824-1 • eBook • October 2004 • $50.00 • (£38.00)
Joseph Loconte is the William E. Simon Fellow in Religion and a Free Society at the Heritage Foundation's Center for Religion and Civil Society.
Part 1 I The Peacemakers
Chapter 2 A Road Away From War
Chapter 3 Putting Christianity in Cold Storage
Chapter 4 On Saving Civilization
Chapter 5 What Can America Do for Peace?
Chapter 6 A War for Imperialism
Chapter 7 The Same Old War
Chapter 8 The Causes of War—Hitler
Chapter 9 Nazi Atrocities and the American War Fever
Chapter 10 All Will Be Lost By War
Chapter 11 A Clash of Imperialisms
Chapter 12 What Can Christians Do?
Chapter 13 What, Then, Should Churches Do?
Chapter 14 Keeping Christ Above the Strife
Part 15 II The Prophets
Chapter 16 An End to Illusions
Chapter 17 Why the Church is not Pacifist
Chapter 18 Christian Faith and the World Crisis
Chapter 19 First Letter to the French Protestants
Chapter 20 Second Letter to the French Protestants
Chapter 21 A Letter to Great Britain
Chapter 22 Five Mournful Years for Jewry
Chapter 23 Enemy of Human Freedom
Chapter 24 The Crime of Crimes
Chapter 25 The Darkest Political Tyranny
Chapter 26 Irresponsible Idealism
Chapter 27 The Christian as Citizen
Chapter 28 Defending Justice Despite Our Own Injustice
Chapter 29 The Barbarian Alternative
Chapter 30 The Aftermath of Utopianism
Part 31 III The Gathering Storm
Chapter 32 War and Peace
Chapter 33 America's Responsibility in the Present Crisis
With this vital documentation, Joseph Loconte brings back to life the intense intellectual battle that bitterly divided religious thinkers in the 1930s: How should they respond to the total war against the West, mounted by the Third Reich and its Axis partners? Reinhold Niehbur and others fought manfully against the overwhelming numbers of pacifists, doves, perfectionists, and just plain appeasers, and took many rhetorical blows for doing so. These documents tell the tale most eloquently.
— Michael Novak, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, 1994 Templeton laureate
Congratulations to Joseph Loconte for bringing together this indispensable collection of writings by American theologians and churchmen who either opposed or supported America's involvement in the war against Nazi Germany. Then, as now, a significant cohort of the clergy preached a 'moral equivalence' between the United States and its foes; then, as now, many averted their gaze from the horrors unfolding in another part of the world; then, as now, many cried 'peace' when there was no 'peace' for the victims of Nazism. Opposition to this position, spearheaded by Reinhold Niebuhr, located interventionism within the heart of the Christian tradition and its understanding of the role of the state in protecting citizens from, and punishing, evil. Loconte's briskly written, energetic introduction helps to frame our understanding of who the writers were and what issues were at stake. Anyone who wishes to deepen his or her appreciation of American church opinion between World Wars I and II should read this volume.
— Jean Bethke Elshtain, The Laura Spelman Rockeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics, University of Chicago; author of Just War Against Terror
Joseph Loconte gathered surprising material for his excellent historical study.
— Joseph Bottum; The Weekly Standard
Although its subject is the fierce debate among religious leaders about America's entry into the Second World War, Joseph Loconte's powerful and timely book also sheds light on the conduct of religious leaders in our current struggles. Rarely has a collection of historical documents had more immediate relevance, or offered more self-evident parallels to the present. Then, as now, one is dismayed by the failure of so many of our most prominent religious spokesmen to give responsible guidance to those burdened by the terrible obligations of statecraft. Then, as now, one is grateful for the clear-thinking remnant who did provide such guidance, and who understood that genuine love for one's neighbors can never mean abandoning them to barbarism and murder.
— Wilfred M. McClay, University of Oklahoma