Author Description

Product Description This collection of essays ponders upon the intricate relations between the military and the spiritual from the Middle Ages to the present day. In order to analyse human attitudes towards conflicts, it is necessary to dwell upon the nebulous area where the religious and political spheres interweave so tightly that they become virtually impossible to distinguish. Indeed, despite remaining the responsibility of the state, the political decision to go to war depends heavily on some spiritual underpinning since, without a moral, ethical, or religious justification, it stands for gratuitous violence and is often equated with aggression. Situated as they are at the intersection of religious and political awareness, war sermons are an invaluable source of information regarding societies in times of conflict. Indeed, whether favourable or hostile to the waging of war, preachers participated in the edification of parishioners opinion. The writing, delivering or reading of sermons shaped the mental process of peoples who sought their ministers moral and spiritual guidance in times of crisis. This collection of essays offers contributions to the renewed debate on the function of war, its representations and its rhetoric as generators of identity. About the Author Gilles Teulie is Professor of British and Commonwealth Studies at the University of Provence (Aix-Marseille). He has written extensively on South African history and the links between religion and war. He published a book on the Afrikaners and the Anglo-Boer War (Montpellier University Press, 2000). He was the editor of Writing History in South Africa, (University of Bayreuth Press, 2003), Religious Writings and War (Montpellier University Press, 2006), and 'Victorian Representations of War' (international journal Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens, 2007) Laurence Lux-Sterritt is a lecturer of early modern history at the University of Provence (Aix-Marseille); her research interests fo