Religieux et religieuses face à la guerre

This volume brings an international team of scholars working across three continents. At the intersection of the socio-cultural history of warfare and the history of religion, and informed by gender and postcolonial studies, the contributions gathered here examine the experience of a specific group: men and women living in community as members of a religious order. From the Wars of Religion to revolutionary conflicts, from clashes between large armies to contemporary guerrilla warfare, the volume explores their agency as genuine participants in war, not merely as observers or victims.
From the sixteenth century to the contemporary period, communities and individuals confronted with the reality of war, chose to uphold, adapt, or transgress the prohibition of violence. This was a fundamental element of their identity as members of religious orders, thereby sharing the experience of their contemporaries. Beginning with the horror of the trenches of 1914–1918, the suffering inflicted by war, in all its brutality, also challenges the legitimacy of any disembodied theological discourse.