In Jesus' Name: Evangelicals and Military Chaplaincy

by John D. Laing

Can military chaplains pray "in Jesus' name?" Are they allowed to share their faith openly? Are evangelical Christians persecuted in the military? Does the general prohibition against proselytizing in the military violate soldiers' Constitutional rights? Are liberalism and/or universalism implicitly endorsed by the military and political leadership as the preferred religion of the United States government? In this timely and important book, John Laing draws upon his knowledge as a professor of theology and philosophy and his experience as an Army chaplain in order to address these questions and more, with a view to answering the larger theological question of whether evangelicals can successfully serve as military chaplains while remaining true to their conservative biblical beliefs and evangelistic commitments. While the book is primarily written for those involved or interested in military chaplaincy, it has a broader appeal, as the issues discussed are relevant to all areas of healthcare, institutional, public service, campus, and marketplace.

316 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Graham Gaines · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Laing is one of the more thoughtful and thought-provoking professors I've had in seminary. He is brilliantly smart, well-studied, and cares for his students well. In this work, he thoughtfully and critically engages the work of those with whom he disagrees, and writes in a way that is not unnecessarily academic. He covers a wide gambit of issues that an evangelical chaplain will face in ministry.

His "Introduction to Chaplaincy" class was one of my favorite classes I've taken in seminary, mainly because he has engaged us in such thoughtful dialogue every day in class. It has also been formative, as I have taken a great interest in pursuing hospital chaplaincy. I will always be indebted to John Laing.

[Wes M · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was very difficult for me to rate as a Chaplain (ordained Non-Denom Protestant Pastor) in the US Military (reserve component, ARNG like CH Laing), and a Clinical Chaplain on the civilian side. I liked - it in the sense of given who wrote it, and to who the most likely audience was (Evangelical Christians). The language and buzzwords made that evident to myself.

But I also disliked it, given that this was a more modernized version and understanding of mil-chaplaincy praxis and understanding (published in 2010), and I had some higher expectations in reconciling the expected theological chasm that is assumed in the title and what it means to be an inherently governmental chaplain.

Laing did do an outstanding job with landmark cases and explaining left and right limits of religious boundaries chaplains had within the military, and arguably in any governmental chaplain position.

I'm surprised that he didn't address several other issues. Like a growing shift in religious (or lack of thereof) trends. Arguably, the big paradigm shift in many if not, all institutions (and western society) is NRP (no religious preference), or SBNR (spiritual but not religious). While the chaplain's role is to facilitate appropriately 1A rights for practice of religion, they will have really bored office days if no one is religious - especially at an 0-2 up paygrade. NRPs, SBNRs, are going to argue that chaplains, in that case are a waste of money. Is that all the chaplain is

If anything, I'm surprised he didn't address the Army Public Center of Health's (APCH) definition of spirituality (which is based off the widely accepted model of palliative care definition from Pulchalski) - "something that gives meaning and purpose to a person's life". Under this framework, a chaplain can meaningfully, with integrity address all beliefs (at the very least provide, not perform) whether they be religious or not. This paired with confidentiality under AR 165-1 makes the chaplain the ultimate guide to morale to an Staff. In other words, even you had an entire battalion of soldiers that had no religious preference or gave two shits less, the chaplain is still a multiplier for whatever mission that unit has.

CH Laing did reference the famous/infamous case study of CH Klingenschmitt several times - a USN chaplain whose convictions led him to pray in Jesus' name at a mandatory government functions, as well as other cited incidents. I remembered reading an article on this, and someone wrote a comment about it that struck me, I saved the comment on a Word Document. I think depicts an accurate depiction of 1A rights to all, and to how the overall Church is perceived.

" spent ten years living overseas with the military. I spent ten years attending both Catholic and Jewish services with my family. We often shared the same facilities as Fundamentalist Protestants, i.e. "Christians". I can tell you from my personal experience when these "Christians" start complaining about an "anti-Christian bias" they are reacting to being put in their place after having stomped on some other faith group. The military isn't anti-Christian, but it does have to accept all the people who come in to serve."

So just because there is pushback on praying Jesus' name - it doesn't mean we're getting attacked. We're just being called to be polite and to be respectful of our neighbor. I think we've gotten away with it for so long because it was such a typical thing. But the day is coming where Christians in particular will dig their ass into such a hole, because they lack the communal-institution emotional intelligence to get their ass out of the victim triangle regarding their theology.

[RevRonR · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this is a book that needed to be written due to so many issues pervading the military chaplaincy today. I credit Laing for tacking the issues head on but his book was a little long and was "foggy" at times. That is, he just went places that weren't necessary. His last chapter was mainly a sermon when all he needed was a conclusion. He also mixed up "soldiers" and "sailors" in the early portion of the book in regard to the USS ANZIO. This could be forgiven toward him but not as much toward his editor. I think Laing just went a little too far with this one. He should have limited his topics a little more and I'm just not so sure he's the expert on all the issues here that he hoped to be following the release of this book.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

First time I have been the first one to read a book on Goodreads! Lots of good info but slow reading at times.