Ronit Y. Stahl. Enlisting Faith

When waging war, those who fight have long been told that they do so with the blessing of God. Beyond the rhetoric, who is bringing God to those on the front lines? As Ronit Y. Stahl describes in her wonderful book Enlisting Faith: How the Military Chaplaincy Shaped Religion and State in Modern America, the answer for American soldiers and sailors is military chaplains. And the chaplains’ role at the front tells us as much about the place religion has in America’s changing society as it does about how faith is administered to those serving in the armed forces. Stahl looks at the development of the modern chaplaincy over the twentieth century and how it provides readers with a window into the interaction between the state and organized religion. While military chaplains date back to the Revolutionary War, Stahl argues that their story is best understood by the bureaucratization that the First World War caused, and the curious juxtaposition of having faith leaders in the midst of combat zones where they served as “social worker, lawyer, doctor, teacher, business man, officer, and preacher” as well as “[steward] of religion and morality” to those they serve (21, 63).

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