Abstract This article demonstrates the profound shaping influence of the First World War on the post-war lives and ministries of Australian Anglican Army chaplains. Through their use of the Anglican liturgy and their leadership of Anzac commemoration, returned Anglican chaplains offered means of consolation and hope to grieving Australians. They also addressed the need of many Australian veterans to make sense of their war experience as meaningful and sacred. In doing so, returned chaplains created the rituals, symbols and liturgy that would give enduring voice and shape to an emerging Australian civil religion. Veteran chaplains also founded religious brotherhoods; forged institutions, ministries and advocacy aimed towards the working class and men; and offered a corporate vision of society that sought to break the impasse between labour and capital, and contend with post-war claims of fascism, communism and capitalism. In turn, this article contends that the war’s aftermath represents a moment in Australian history when the Anglican Church focused on what it meant to be a nation, and the goals and aspirations worthy of national energy and enthusiasm. Returned Anglican chaplains were able, and had earned the right, to speak about such matters.
Michael Gladwin (Mon,) studied this question.