The Spanish Civil War as a Religious Tragedy

by José M. Sánchez

The Spanish Civil War was one of the most passionate idealogical conflicts of modern times. It was the greatest and last struggle between traditional Catholicism and liberal secularism. To many, religion became the most divisive issue of the war, the single problem that distinguished one fraction from another.
The Spanish Civil War as a Religious Tragedy is the first full-length comprehensive study of the religious dimension of the Spanish conflict. Drawing on memoirs, eye-witness accounts, the religious press of the period, and a thorough reading of secondary literature, José M. Sánchez objectively examines the events, issues, attitudes, and effects of the war and corrects the mythology that has grown up around the topic.
Especially vivid is Sánchez's account of the anticlerical fury in which nearly 7,000 clerics were killed, thousands of churches burned and destroyed, countless lay-persons assassinated, and the entire cultural ethic of Spanish Catholicism set upon an iconoclastic bloodletting worse than any other in the history of Christianity. The clergy's offering of pastoral and idealogical support to Franco's Nationalists as a response to the fury is also examined. Sánchez then focuses on the complexities of the Basques - an intensely Catholic people who made common cause with the anticlerical Republicans. He explores the Vatican's policy toward both sides, and analyzes the theological and moral controversy over the justice of the war as fought in the journals and the press, both in Spain and abroad. Finally, he investigates the controversies as they affected Catholics in France, England, and the United States, and concludes with an evaluation of the war's impact upon the religious consciousness of Spain, the Church, and the western world.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics

260 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1987

Reviews

[Alex Stern · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book focuses on a key pillar of the Spanish Civil War: religion. Spain's "war of religion" in the 20th century is certainly explained well by the author and demonstrates the complexities of Catholic opinion within Spain and around the world.

[Daniel Bakken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sanchez thoroughly refutes the modern view of the Spanish Civil War as a political conflict between republicans and fascists. The Church was a key player in this religious civil war, both sinning and being sinned against. If all you know about the Guerra Civil comes from "Homage to Catalonia" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls," pick this one up now.