Embattled Belief

Professor Michael Snape explores the role of religion in the modern British Army, from the Korean War to Afghanistan.

Drawing from his latest book, Canon Professor Michael Snape explores the history of religion in the Army since the Second World War. He considers the changing role of faith during the Cold War, the end of empire, the War on Terror, seismic shifts in Britain’s cultural and religious landscape, and the dramatic shrinkage of the armed forces.

This impressively broad survey reveals the abiding importance of religion to the British Army at an institutional, individual and operational level, even during a period of secularisation.

About the speaker

Michael Snape is Michael Ramsey Professor of Anglican Studies at Durham University. He is the official historian of the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department and was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2024.

'Embattled Belief' is the third in a trilogy of titles on the history of religion in the British Army, following 'The Redcoat and 'Religion: The Forgotten History of the British Soldier from the Age of Marlborough to the Eve of the First World War' (2005) and 'God and the British Soldier: Religion and the British Army in the First and Second World Wars' (2005).