A Church at War
MacKay Presbyterian Church, New Edinburgh, and the First World War
- Publisher
- Les Presses de l'Université d'Ottawa/University of Ottawa Press
- Initial publish date
- Mar 2024
- Category
- World War I, Presbyterian, Post-Confederation (1867-)
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9780776642154
- Publish Date
- Mar 2024
- List Price
- $44.95
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9780776642161
- Publish Date
- Mar 2024
- List Price
- $95.97
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Description
One hundred and forty-one people from MacKay Presbyterian Church, in Ottawa, served in the First World War. This is an astonishing record, but one that was by no means uncommon in Canada.
Why did these men, their families, and their church enlist in this great war for “justice, truth, and righteousness, and for the Glory of God”? What was the impact of war on the surviving soldiers as they and their families adjusted to a changed world, to permanent injuries and to painful memories?
This study of the experience of one church at war weaves together the stories of soldiers on the battlefields of Europe with those of the families who waited and prayed, enduring privation, fear, loneliness, and grief.
It centres on the 19 men who fell in the war — some as heroes in desperate battles, others with tragic randomness or from illness, several with no known graves — and the widows they left to cope as best they could, the children who grew up without fathers, and the families who mourned their loss even as they took pride in their sacrifice.
Using new methods including online research and the tools of genealogical study to bring to life people who did not leave a rich legacy of information on their lives and families, this study of a church at war deepens our understanding of the social history of Canada’s participation in the First World War, and provides a model for research on churches, communities, and institutions.
About the authors
Alan Bowker has a Ph.D. in Canadian history. He has served for over 30 years in Canada's foreign service, including a position as High Commissioner to Guyana. He is the editor of a collection of Leacock essays, On the Front Line of Life and Social Criticism: The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice and Other Essays. He lives in Ottawa.
Excerpt: A Church at War: MacKay Presbyterian Church, New Edinburgh, and the First World War (by (author) Alan Bowker; series edited by Pierre Desrosiers)
141 people from MacKay Presbyterian Church served in the First World War, and their church and their families at home steadfastly supported the war through four years of privation, suffering, and grief. MacKay church served New Edinburgh, a community with roots in the lumber industries at the Rideau Falls, which contained Rideau Hall and was home to a growing number of public servants and a large German-speaking minority, and had a rich tradition of athletics and militia service.
MacKay church embraced the conviction that an immanent God was working in history, and that Christians had a duty to realize the Kingdom of God on Earth through evangelism and social and moral reform. They regarded the British Empire as the apogee of Christian civilization bringing peace and progress to the world. They were thus convinced that in defending their country and Empire against German aggression and autocracy they were fighting for “justice, truth, and righteousness, and for the Glory of God”. This study weaves together the stories of the men who served, their families at home, and their church as they responded to a terrible war.
It focusses particularly on the nineteen men who fell in the war—some as heroes in desperate battles; others with tragic randomness or from illness; several with no known graves—as well as their siblings who also served, the widows they left to cope as best they could, the children who would grow up without fathers, and the families whose pride in their sacrifice was mixed with heartbreak at their loss; and it uses these stories to illustrate and develop the main themes of the book. Final chapters describe the return of the survivors and their adjustment, with their families, to a changed world, as they launched new careers or returned to old jobs, started new families, and in some cases struggled with permanent injuries and painful memories. MacKay Presbyterian Church became MacKay United Church, re-affirming its Christian faith and remembering those who had made the Supreme Sacrifice.
This study of a church at war deepens our understanding of the social history of Canada’s response to the First World War, using new methods, including on-line research and the tools of genealogical study, to bring to life, however imperfectly, people who did not leave a rich legacy of information on their lives and families.