Heath presenting “Apocalypse now: Canadian churches & the first World War”

Dr. Gord Heath will be presenting his paper entitled, “Apocalypse Now: Canadian Churches and the First World War” at Humber College in Toronto as they present, Representing WWI: Perspectives at the Centenary. Most accounts of Canada and WWI either ignore or merely mention in passing the churches’ experience. Such neglect does not do justice to the remarkable influence of the wartime churches nor to the religious identity of the young Dominion. This paper is a corrective to that inattention. This paper will also demonstrate how the churches’ support for the war was often wholehearted, but just as often nuanced and critical, shaped by either the classic just war paradigm or pacifism’s outright rejection of violence. The war heightened issues of Canadianization, attitudes to violence, and ministry to the bereaved and the disillusioned. It also exacerbated ethnic tensions within and between denominations, and challenged notions of national and imperial identity.We wish Gord the best as he represents McMaster Divinity College at this event.