Military Chaplains as Agents of Peace: Religious Leader Engagement in Conflict and Post-Conflict Environments [Paperback]

Globally, where faith and political processes share the public space with indigenous populations, religious leaders of tolerant voice, who desire to transcend the conflict that often divides their peoples, are coming forward. Affirming and enabling these leaders is increasingly becoming the focus of the reconciliation efforts of peace builders, both internally and externally to existing conflict.

By way of theoretical analysis and documented case studies from a number of countries, Military Chaplains as Agents of Peace considers Religious Leader Engagement (RLE) as an emerging domain that advances the cause of reconciliation via the religious peace building of chaplains: A construct that may be generalized to expeditionary, humanitarian, and domestic operational contexts. An overview of the benefits and limitations of RLE is offered and accompanied by a candid discussion of a number of the more perplexing questions related to such operational ministry: Influence Activities, Information Gathering for Intelligence Purposes, and the Protected (Non-Combatant) Status of Chaplains.

S. K. Moore is an ordained minister with the United Church of Canada who served as a chaplain in the Canadian Forces for twenty-two years. His operational tours include Bosnia, during the war (1993), Haiti (1997), and the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team, Afghanistan for research purposes (2006). He is presently involved with conflict studies at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada.

The provocative title of this work draws the reader into a world that is unknown to many. . . .Readers of this work who have a military background might be surprised by the range of experiences that chaplains have had in the past two decades. Readers who come from a theological perspective might doubt the possibility of any member of the military achieving peace. This book provides a challenge to the worldview of Western military leaders, which is becoming increasingly secular. . . .The real l“\