The Sword of the Lord: Military Chaplains from the First to the Twenty-First Century (review)

Military chaplaincy has a long history and, at a time of military conflict, reflection on its historical development is timely. This collection, put together by a distinguished historian of religion under the stress of war and dictatorship in mid-twentieth-century Germany, examines the development of chaplaincy from the early church until the Vietnam war, looking chiefly at the Western tradition. The early history of chaplaincy remains obscure; despite the search for scriptural precedent such as the support, literally, offered to Moses by Aaron and Hur in the struggle against the Amalekites, it is not until the fifth century that Christian clerics accompanied soldiers into battle, as comforters rather than exhorters. This was to change radically with the development of "just war" theory so that, in the Middle Ages, chaplains were used to justify the cause and boost the morale of participants, often in highly developed quasi-liturgical ways which were best expressed in those bloody endeavors under the Cross, the Crusades. This justificatory role developed further under the fragmentation of Christendom during the Reformation, when the threat was not from the distant "other" but from the enemy within, usually depicted as the forces of Antichrist or of Satan. Chaplaincy during these wars of religion, which convulsed Europe for almost two centuries, is treated rather briefly in the volume, by one essay on the Civil Wars in mid-seventeenth-century Britain. In this essay, however, the importance of excoriating the enemy, as well as preaching the cause, is well illustrated by the differing approaches which Parliamentary chaplains had to their Scottish Presbyterian opponents and the Irish Catholic enemies, against whom violence was more easily justified. It is with the modern era, when the technological impact of violence on both individual combatants and groups becomes extreme, that the volume is most concerned. The experience of chaplains during the American Civil War revealed to many of them the tension between religious faith and military efficiency, but by the early twentieth century it would appear that, in a period of nation building, the priorities of governments meant that "nationalistic rhetoric had defeated theological reflection."

The horrors of World War I were to shift the balance once again, and theexperience of military chaplains led many Christians, at a time of de-Christianization, towithdraw from their exhortatory role and give priority to that of comforter once again. Comfort to the individual suffering soldier became combined with what might be termed the role of ethical advisor to those engaged in modern warfare, often conducted by weaponry which is designed to deliver its "payload" at some distance. In this context chaplains have become, where governments still seek to employ them (and those numbers are shrinking), the defenders of the proper conduct of war, as much concerned with the treatment of victims on both sides as with their own. This volume is given great force by two chapters written by chaplains sharing their experiences; that of Rabbi Wall in World War II, who was prepared to defy his military superiors in order to assist his surviving co-religionists in war-torn Europe, and of Father Joe O'Donnell, whose concerns about the purpose of his role in Vietnam led him to see the need for a renewal of the basis for ethical policy thereafter. That tension still, of course, exists, and chaplaincy faces the twin challenges of, on the one hand, operating in an increasingly secularized world and, on the other, of adjusting to work within a multi-faith environment. History shows that chaplains were often in the forefront of ecumenical endeavor, and of the care of victims. It is to be hoped that reflection on the past will secure a positive future for a civilizing presence in what is often, as recent news pictures have revealed, a barbaric and barbarizing environment.