As we commemorate 250 years of military chaplaincy it is my privilege as the Dean of the Graduate School at USA-IRL to speak in the place of the Editor about what it means to host the professional conversation around military chaplaincy.
Military Chaplaincy Review publishes articles on the theory and practice of military chaplaincy. This seemingly straightforward mission is actually more nuanced than it might first appear. Lifting up stories of the work of military chaplains and chaplaincy fulfills part of that mission. Reflecting on what’s not yet fulfilled in the theory and practice of military chaplaincy is another part of making the mission.
The Review both celebrates and investigates the work that we do as Chaplains, Religious Affairs Specialists, and DA Civilians. This is especially important to name explicitly in the issue marking 250 years of military chaplaincy.
This issue of the Review powerfully displays the rich veins of the current conversation. The Research Articles section is full of innovative scholarship on important historical matters. The ordering of these articles from the Civil War through the conflict in Vietnam and into the Global War on Terror shows the historical sweep of that scholarship. Civilian scholars Dr. Kathryn Angelica and Dr. Sarah Luginbill bring our attention to previously underappreciated histories of military chaplaincy; Dr. Angelica through her focus on a single figure, Henry McNeal Turner, and Dr. Luginbill through her focus on the material history of chaplain kits during the World Wars. First Lieutenant Sam McPeak brings builds a theory of what set apart Catholic Chaplains during Vietnam by examining their theological formation. Chaplain (Colonel) Karen Meeker takes a deep dive into the complicated relationship between theological education and DoD policy since 2004. Chaplain (Captain) Justin Daniel patiently walks through the long and surprising history of chaplain involvement with Next of Kin notifications.
The Reflections section contains moving and important exhortations around the practice of military chaplaincy and the stories told about those practices. Major General (Retired) Jeff Jacobs generously shares his observations and experiences around care provided to Jewish Service Members by reflecting on the work of Chaplain (Major) Evans T. Mosley. Chaplain (Colonel) Nathan Kline, Commander Edward Erwin, CHC, and Captain Charles Varsogea, CHC, partner to discuss the mutually supportive relationship between Army and Navy chaplaincy, thus dramatizing the very points they set out to illustrate. Adam Tietje’s searching reflection on the meaning of St. Martin of Tours to military chaplaincy weighs the status quo telling of St. Martin against his own narration to evocative effect.
Reviewing material—whether in print or on screen—is an essential part the Review’s work. In this issue Chaplain (Major) Owen Chandler provides a thoroughgoing John Brinsfield’s Freedom on Fire!: The Commanders and Chaplains of the American Revolution in part by framing the book within Brinsfield’s large body of work. Chaplain (Colonel) Emmitt Furner asks probing questions about the nature and role of miliary chaplaincy in his treatment of Doris L. Bergen’s Between God and Hitler: Military Chaplains in Nazi Germany. Chaplain (Colonel) Ibrahem Raheem uses his reading of Andrea Pitzer’s One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps to similar effect by asking foundational questions about the nature of military chaplaincy and how far its influence should extend. Adam Tietje’s take on an episode of “The Righteous Gemstones” is an object lesson in what it means to interpret closely with salutary effects because it would be easy to shunt aside both the series, the episode, and the characters as too outlandish for serious treatment.
The Review looks to the past to examine the theory and practice of chaplaincy in this issue. We are mindful that our readers are the ones carrying that theory and practice into the future, and are proud to be the place where you can find some of your own history.