The Crucible of German Democracy. Ernst Troeltsch and the First World War.

But Norton does much more: by exploring Troeltsch in context, he reveals a level of nuance in Troeltsch and his like-minded colleagues that has seldom been appreciated. This is telling: despite the weight Norton places on Troeltsch's writing on freedom, it may well be that Troeltsch was more a pragmatist than a committed democrat. Troeltsch may not have been quite the democrat Norton might have wished for, but he was a realist and a compromiser, and could see the humanity of the enemy, and that alone makes him worth reading. [Extracted from the article]