Bernard J. Verkamp. The Moral Treatment of Returning Warriors in Early Medieval and Modern Times. Scranton: University of Scranton Press, 2006. xiii + 195 pp. $24.00 (paper), ISBN 978-1-58966-129-5.

Reviewed by Alex Hunnicutt (Department of History, University of Texas at Arlington)
Published on H-German (September, 2007)

Many Unhappy Returns

Bernard Verkamp seeks to draw the reader's attention to the contrast between the treatment of returning soldiers in today's world and that received by warriors in earlier times. While he states in the introduction that he does not believe treatment of returning warriors was always better in medieval times, he certainly suggests, and later on confirms, that on the whole the responses and reactions of earlier society were preferable to those of today. To support this conclusion, Verkamp arranges his material chronologically, first examining the experiences of returning warriors in the medieval period and the circumstances that shaped those experiences. After establishing a firm basis of behaviors and the theological reasons for those behaviors, he contrasts those with the conditions and attitudes faced by soldiers returning from wars in the modern period. Verkamp focuses mainly on this contrast and in turn provides an excellent explanation as to why soldiers who returned from Vietnam and World War II did not readily re-assimilate into the fabric of society. Although he does not state explicitly his own moral beliefs, his interpretation of the data suggests that a pious Christian outlook influenced his analysis. Ultimately the book veers into the realm of religious ethics as his historical detachment gives way to judgmental and prescriptive discourse.

Verkamp draws from numerous sources including early churchmen like St. Augustine, Athanasius, and Cyprian of Carthage, as well as modern sources like Wilfred Owen, Philip Caputo, Ernest Hemingway, and Albert Camus. His bibliography does not distinguish between primary and secondary sources, or between ancient and modern. However, this approach makes sense in a book that synthesizes material from a wide range and in which no special source serves as primary. He seamlessly incorporates material from Latin, Greek, German, and French texts and kindly translates references in the body of the book; usually the notes offer the quote in the original language. Most of these sources could be roughly divided into two principal sorts: those that deal with moral, theological, or philosophical issues and those that deal with wars and soldiers.

After a very brief introduction, the book is arranged into seven chapters. Chapter 1, "Medieval Imposition of Penances upon Returning Warriors," sets the theme of the book, although I was unaware of that upon first reading. The brief eight-page chapter includes description of penitential rites in which returning warriors participated in medieval times. Using ecclesiastical sources from both Roman and Byzantine writers, Verkamp explains that upon homecoming soldiers were considered sinful, polluted, or tainted because of their participation in mortal combat. A crucial point in the overall work's argument is the prevalence of the belief that killing in combat constituted murder; therefore, soldiers were morally compromised by their service in war.

Next, in a chapter named "The Medieval Rationale," Verkamp elaborates on the imposition of penance on those who returned from war. He shows the moral dilemma encountered by soldiers in a period when church and state were synonymous. Soldiers who fought for king and religion nonetheless considered themselves sinners for having done so. Verkamp presents an interesting comparison here to Augustine's writings on relative degrees of sin occasioned by married partners engaging in sex within marriage. Both actions were permitted but still regarded as sinful. Ritualistic penance relieved the taint of homicide committed during war and absolved sin. In addition, these rituals allowed the returning warrior to reestablish his place in society. The liminal aspects inherent in most rituals served to reintegrate the soldiers into the world they had left behind. Most importantly, Verkamp contends that the rituals provided spiritual succor to the soldiers, so that they too could be assured that they were no longer sinful or contaminated.

Verkamp analyzes the abandonment of large-scale, imposed penance in chapter 3, "The Demise of the Practice." Here, he deftly leads the reader through the unraveling connections that bound the temporal ecclesiastical spheres to introduce the moral ambiguity facing soldiers who followed rulers whose causes lacked ecclesiastical endorsement. To soldiers accustomed to assurances that the war in which they engaged enjoyed divine authorization, temporal leaders offered less comfort or spiritual assurance than they had had previously. Soldiers fighting wars without divine blessing felt themselves more liable to sin while fighting. The lack of certainty of performing God's will lessened their moral reserve. Chapter 4 draws upon the theme of soldiers' moral conflicts but wrenches the reader forward to discuss the conditions experienced by soldiers returning from America's most notable twentieth-century wars: World War I, World War II, and Vietnam. He contends that veterans returned home emotionally and spiritually scarred, freighted with sin, and remorseful because of having killed. Even in modernity's "justified" wars, which he suggests do not carry the medieval depth of justification, Verkamp argues that soldiers nevertheless frequently experience defining, revelatory events during which they realize the shared humanity of the enemy. Moreover, he posits that soldiers lack ready means of penance to alleviate moral pain and assuage guilt.

In chapter 5, "The Therapeutic Approach," Verkamp focuses on the role of ministers, clergy, and therapists--especially on their complicity in manipulating the soldiers into denial and sublimation of that guilt. Poignantly, he describes a soldier asking a psychiatrist, "'What kind of sin do I have to commit ... before I can get you to listen to me and help me?'" (p. 70). Acknowledging both a genuine desire to help soldiers as well as practical considerations of hastening the turn-around time for return to the front or to productive home lives, Verkamp ascribes the methods of clergy and especially psychiatrists to the influences of Freud and Nietzsche. He observes that guilt was the thing to be avoided at all costs; yet when one has committed atrocities, ought not the rational response be guilt?

"The Modern Rationale" deals with the modern dilemma of secular society's struggles with war, guilt, and justification. In this sixth chapter, Verkamp revisits a theme he raised in the first two chapters: what constitutes evil when actions are carried out under higher authority? Wars in medieval times usually had the trappings of Christian endorsement (on both sides) and soldiers felt assured that any killing they committed would be forgiven. Executioners enjoyed similar guarantee that their actions were carried out in the name of God. But from a philosophical standpoint, secular societies cannot easily compel soldiers to fight a just war when the enemy may be similarly just, and liberal democracies have problems upholding human rights and dignity with military destruction and death. Even though leaders of the belligerents assure their followers of the necessity of these deplorable acts, individuals must still cope with their actions as soldiers and reconcile military commendation with civilian condemnation of the same acts. Verkamp clearly leads the reader to believe that without the act of penance, such reconciliation at the individual level is rarely to be obtained.

In the seventh chapter, "Beyond the Therapeutic," Verkamp attempts to demonstrate that modern secular approaches are doomed to fail through their willingness to seek divine forgiveness. He shows how supporters of Nietzsche, believers in human autonomy, and followers of existentialism all miss the quintessential element of man's need for spiritual health. By failing to consider this need, Verkamp views these systems as inherently flawed and inadequate. He concludes hopefully with the confidence that some Christian churches have re-embraced notions of guilt and penance.

Verkamp ambitiously tackles weighty issues in a very slim volume. While the book was well developed, however, it also left disappointing gaps. Verkamp effectively positions his subject, but his analysis left me wanting more. One of these gaps was the aporia between medieval and the modern, which abruptly brings the reader from the Crusades to World War I. Consequently, the reader wonders how the medieval practices of penance or lack thereof functioned in the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. Did Oliver Cromwell's men suffer guilt? Surely, they had no official "popish" rite of penance. Did soldiers in Protestant countries fare worse than those in Catholic ones? Moreover, it would have been helpful if the author had considered at least briefly the problem of how soldiers in non-Christian societies fared. Verkamp's thesis is thoroughly grounded in a Christian interpretation; a demonstration that non-Christian soldiers without corresponding rites of penance suffer similar guilt and remorse would have supported his argument more compellingly.

Verkamp's book is also more clearly focused on its medieval origins than on its modern outcomes. While his medieval sources extend wide and deep, modern sources in the same breadth and depth are lacking. Ultimately, then, the book is far more focused on a single aspect and interpretation of the subject than its title suggests. Readers who accepts the anthropological constant of needs for atonement from the European and Christian standpoint will find a reasonable explanation for the soldier's plight and condition in modern, secular America. Verkamp builds his case convincingly within those parameters and his sections focusing on early Christian writings are among the very best and most compelling parts of his work.

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Citation: Alex Hunnicutt. Review of Verkamp, Bernard J., The Moral Treatment of Returning Warriors in Early Medieval and Modern Times. H-German, H-Net Reviews. September, 2007.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=13620

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