Moral Warriors, Moral Wounds

Moral Warriors, Moral Wounds
Author: Wollom A. Jensen
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 159
Release: 2016-05-19
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1498223516

The experience of Wollom Jensen's distinguished career in military service and James Childs's long and productive career in the fields of theology and ethics combine to bring Christian ethics into dialogue with the harsh realities of military service in today's world of war. The authors seek to correlate the ethics of neighbor love with the vocation of the chaplaincy, the framework of just war theory, the published values of the military services, and sample issues such as the challenge of pluralism for the chaplaincy, drone warfare, interrogation practices, and truth-telling. Special emphasis is placed on the reality of moral injury and the moral obligation of society and the churches to respond to the needs of these wounded warriors. The book espouses the view that the Christian ethic, more than a set of principles, is a true ministry to those who struggle to be faithful and fear that they have not been.

Moral Warriors, Moral Wounds

Moral Warriors, Moral Wounds
Author: Wollom A. Jensen
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 150
Release: 2016-05-19
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1498223524

The experience of Wollom Jensen's distinguished career in military service and James Childs's long and productive career in the fields of theology and ethics combine to bring Christian ethics into dialogue with the harsh realities of military service in today's world of war. The authors seek to correlate the ethics of neighbor love with the vocation of the chaplaincy, the framework of just war theory, the published values of the military services, and sample issues such as the challenge of pluralism for the chaplaincy, drone warfare, interrogation practices, and truth-telling. Special emphasis is placed on the reality of moral injury and the moral obligation of society and the churches to respond to the needs of these wounded warriors. The book espouses the view that the Christian ethic, more than a set of principles, is a true ministry to those who struggle to be faithful and fear that they have not been.

Afterwar

Afterwar
Author: Nancy Sherman
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2015
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0199325278

Drawing on in-depth interviews with service women and men, Nancy Sherman weaves narrative with a philosophical and psychological analysis of the moral and emotional attitudes at the heart of the afterwars. Afterwar offers no easy answers for reintegration. It insists that we widen the scope of veteran outreach to engaged, one-on-one relationships with veterans.

The Bible and Moral Injury

The Bible and Moral Injury
Author: Dr. Brad E. Kelle
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Total Pages: 279
Release: 2020-02-04
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1501876295

The Bible and Moral Injury offers an exploration (with case studies) of the interpretation of biblical texts, especially war-related narratives and ritual descriptions from the Old Testament, in conversation with research on the emerging notion of moral injury within psychology, military studies, philosophy, and ethics. This book explores two questions simultaneously: What happens when we read biblical texts, especially biblical stories of war and violence, in light of emerging research on moral injury?, and What does the study of biblical texts and their interpretation contribute to the emerging work on moral injury among other fields and with veterans, chaplains, and other practitioners? The book begins by explaining the concept of moral injury as it has developed within psychology, military studies, chaplaincy, and moral philosophy, especially through work with veterans of the U.S. military’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. A major part of this work has been the attempt to identify means of healing, recovery, and repair for those morally injured by their experiences in combat or in similar situations. A key element for the book is that one feature of work on moral injury has been the appeal by psychologists and others to ancient texts and cultures for models of both the articulation of moral injury and possible means of prevention and healing. These appeals have, at times, referenced Old Testament texts that describe war-related rituals, practices, and experiences (e.g., Numbers 31). Additionally, work on moral injury within other fields has used ancient texts in another way—namely, as a means to offer creative re-readings of ancient literary characters as exemplars of warriors and experiences related to moral injury. For example, scholars have re-read the tales of Achilles and Odysseus in The Iliad and The Odyssey in dialogue with the experiences of American veterans of the Vietnam war and the moral struggles of combat and homecoming. Alongside these trends, consideration of moral injury has increasingly made its way into works on pastoral theology, Christian chaplaincy, and moral theology and ethics. These initial interpretive moves suggest a need for an extended and full-orbed examination of the interpretation of biblical texts in dialogue with the emerging formulation and practices of moral injury and recovery. This book will not simply be an effort to interpret various biblical texts through the lens of moral injury. It also seeks to explore and suggest what critical interpretation of the biblical texts can contribute to the work on moral injury going on not only among chaplains and pastoral theologians but also among psychologists, veterans’ psychiatrists, and moral philosophers. In the end, The Bible and Moral Injury suggests that current formulations of moral injury provide a helpful lens for re-reading the Bible’s texts related to war and violence but also that biblical texts and their interpretation offer resources for those working to understand and express the realities of moral injury and its possible means of healing and repair.

War and Moral Injury

War and Moral Injury
Author: Robert Emmet Meagher
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 379
Release: 2018-04-03
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1498296793

All royalties from the sale of this book are being donated to Warfighter Advance, http://www.warfighteradvance.org Moral Injury has been called the "signature wound" of today's wars. It is also as old as the human record of war, as evidenced in the ancient war epics of Greece, India, and the Middle East. But what exactly is Moral Injury? What are its causes and consequences? What can we do to prevent or limit its occurrence among those we send to war? And, above all, what can we do to help heal afflicted warriors? This landmark volume provides an invaluable resource for those looking for answers to these questions. Gathered here are some of the most far-ranging, authoritative, and accessible writings to date on the topic of Moral Injury. Contributors come from the fields of psychology, theology, philosophy, psychiatry, law, journalism, neuropsychiatry, classics, poetry, and, of course, the profession of arms. Their voices find common cause in informing the growing, international conversation on war and war's deepest and most enduring invisible wound. Few may want to have this myth-challenging, truth-telling conversation, but it is one we must have if we truly wish to help those we send to fight our wars.

Soul Repair

Soul Repair
Author: Rita Nakashima Brock
Publisher: Beacon Press
Total Pages: 114
Release: 2012-11-06
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0807029084

The first book to explore the idea and effect of moral injury on veterans, their families, and their communities Although veterans make up only 7 percent of the U.S. population, they account for an alarming 20 percent of all suicides. And though treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder has undoubtedly alleviated suffering and allowed many service members returning from combat to transition to civilian life, the suicide rate for veterans under thirty has been increasing. Research by Veterans Administration health professionals and veterans’ own experiences now suggest an ancient but unaddressed wound of war may be a factor: moral injury. This deep-seated sense of transgression includes feelings of shame, grief, meaninglessness, and remorse from having violated core moral beliefs. Rita Nakashima Brock and Gabriella Lettini, who both grew up in families deeply affected by war, have been working closely with vets on what moral injury looks like, how vets cope with it, and what can be done to heal the damage inflicted on soldiers’ consciences. In Soul Repair, the authors tell the stories of four veterans of wars from Vietnam to our current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan—Camillo “Mac” Bica, Herman Keizer Jr., Pamela Lightsey, and Camilo Mejía—who reveal their experiences of moral injury from war and how they have learned to live with it. Brock and Lettini also explore its effect on families and communities, and the community processes that have gradually helped soldiers with their moral injuries. Soul Repair will help veterans, their families, members of their communities, and clergy understand the impact of war on the consciences of healthy people, support the recovery of moral conscience in society, and restore veterans to civilian life. When a society sends people off to war, it must accept responsibility for returning them home to peace.

What Have We Done

What Have We Done
Author: David Wood
Publisher: Hachette UK
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2016-11-01
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0316264148

From Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Wood, a battlefield view of moral injury, the signature wound of America's 21st century wars. Most Americans are now familiar with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and its prevalence among troops. In this groundbreaking new book, David Wood examines the far more pervasive yet less understood experience of those we send to war: moral injury, the violation of our fundamental values of right and wrong that so often occurs in the impossible moral dilemmas of modern conflict. Featuring portraits of combat veterans and leading mental health researchers, along with Wood's personal observations of war and the young Americans deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, What Have We Done offers an unflinching look at war and those who volunteer for it: the thrill and pride of service and, too often, the scars of moral injury. Impeccably researched and deeply personal, What Have We Done is a compassionate, finely drawn study of modern war and those caught up in it. It is a call to acknowledge our newest generation of veterans by listening intently to them and absorbing their stories; and, as new wars approach, to ponder the inevitable human costs of putting American "boots on the ground."

Stoic Warriors

Stoic Warriors
Author: Nancy Sherman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2007-03-19
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0199760411

Stoic Warriors explores the relationship between soldiers and Stoic philosophy, exploring what Stoicism actually is, the role it plays in the character of the military (both ancient and modern), and its powerful value as a philosophy of life. Marshalling anecdotes from military history--ranging from ancient Greek wars to World War II, Vietnam, and Iraq--Sherman illuminates the military mind and uses it as a window on the virtues of the Stoic philosophy. Indeed this is a perceptive investigation of what makes Stoicism so compelling not only as a guiding principle for the military, but as a philosophy for anyone facing the hardships of life.

War and the Soul

War and the Soul
Author: Edward Tick
Publisher: Quest Books
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2012-12-19
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0835630056

War and PTSD are on the public's mind as news stories regularly describe insurgency attacks in Iraq and paint grim portraits of the lives of returning soldiers afflicted with PTSD. These vets have recurrent nightmares and problems with intimacy, can’t sustain jobs or relationships, and won’t leave home, imagining “the enemy” is everywhere. Dr. Edward Tick has spent decades developing healing techniques so effective that clinicians, clergy, spiritual leaders, and veterans’ organizations all over the country are studying them. This book, presented here in an audio version, shows that healing depends on our understanding of PTSD not as a mere stress disorder, but as a disorder of identity itself. In the terror of war, the very soul can flee, sometimes for life. Tick's methods draw on compelling case studies and ancient warrior traditions worldwide to restore the soul so that the veteran can truly come home to community, family, and self.

Morality and Ethics at War

Morality and Ethics at War
Author: Deane-Peter Baker
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2020-09-03
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1350104574

In Morality and Ethics of War, which includes a foreword by Major General Susan Coyle, ethicist Deane-Peter Baker goes beyond existing treatments of military ethics to address a fundamental problem: the yawning gap between the diverse moral frameworks defining personal identity on the one hand, and the professional military ethic on the other. Baker argues that overcoming this chasm is essential to minimising the ethical risks that can lead to operational and strategic failure for military forces engaged in today's complex conflict environment. He contends that spanning the gap is vital in preventing moral injury from befalling the nation's uniformed servants. Drawing on a revised account of what he calls 'the Just War Continuum', Baker develops a bridging framework that combines conceptual clarity and rigour with insights from cutting edge psychological research and creates a practical means for military leaders to negotiate the moral chasm in military affairs.