From Covenant to Crusade and Back: American Christianity and the Late Great War

This chapter presents two arguments to address questions arising from the perceived discontinuity between the Great War and other historical currents surrounding it, such as: How does one account for American involvement in such a devastating conflict during an era of optimism and faith in progress? Firstly, covenantal rhetoric played a significant role in bringing the United States into the war—by explaining war time experiences and ordering the postwar world. Secondly, the Great War brought to the surface a tension inherent in Judeo-Christian covenantalism between two aspects of covenant: the vertical, which forges an alliance between parties of unequal power; and the horizontal, which forges a collective out of smaller parties or individuals.