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ABSTRACT
This article explores the complexity of contemporary Christian chaplaincy within the British Army, where Christian (with other faiths and representatives of secular philosophies) serve an ostensibly secular institution. and sometimes conflicted context, especially focused on the concept of ‘being with’, central to the thought of the scholar and priest Samuel Wells. Outlining the history of Chaplaincy within the British Army, showing how the Department has changed to serve a changing Army, it then outlines some of the contemporary challenges. Looking at how the role is worked out within the contemporary British Army, there remains an important incarnational role for the Chaplain to ‘be with’ the Army and it’s people.
Disclosure statement
Author is a current serving member of the British Army (Reserve).
Notes
1 Samuel Wells, A Nazareth Manifesto being wih God (Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2015).
2 Michael Snape, The Royal Army chaplains’ Department: Clergy Under Fire (Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press, 2008), 1.
3 ‘Padre’, as chaplains, are universally known in the British Army and these terms will be used interchangeably. The origins of this term is contested. Some believe it derives from the Spanish Peninsular War, where the Portuguese and Spanish called their chaplains ‘Padre’ (Father) but others have argued that it is Indian in origin (see Snape, The Royal Army chaplains’ Department).
4 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/introduction-of-non-religious-pastoral-officers-for-armed-forces#:~:text=The%20faiths%20and%20beliefs%20held,members%20of%20our%20chaplaincy%20teams (accessed January 11, 2024).
5 Snape, The Royal Army chaplains’ Department, 15.
6 David Coulter and Giles Legood, ‘Military Chaplaincy’, in A Handbook of chaplaincy Studies: Understanding Spiritual Care in Public Places, ed. Christopher Swift, Mark Cobb and Andrew Todd. Ashgate Contemporary Ecclesiology Series (London: Routledge, 2015), 202.
7 Anne Laurence, Parliamentary Chaplains 1642–1651 (Woodbridge, 1990), 55–77.
8 Coulter and Legood, ‘Military Chaplaincy’, 203.
9 Snape, The Royal Army Chaplains’ Department, 28–33.
10 Ibid., 37.
11 Bob Holman, Woodbine Willie: An Unsung Hero of World War One (Oxford: Lion, 2013).
12 https://www.army.mod.uk/who-we-are/corps-regiments-and-units/royal-army-chaplains-department/ (accessed January 11, 2024).
13 https://www.army.mod.uk/media/5219/20180910-values_standards_2018_final.pdf (accessed January 05, 2024).
15 When the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act was passed by UK Parliament in 2013, religious groups and churches were granted an ‘religious protection’ (Article 1.2) exempting them from being bound by this law.
16 Under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, religious organisations were granted a limited exemption from Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013.
17 Snape, The Royal Army chaplains’ Department, 201.
18 Data received Royal Army chaplains Department, data access request, January 8, 2024.
19 https://www.army.mod.uk/who-we-are/corps-regiments-and-units/royal-army-chaplains-department/ (accessed May 7, 2024).
20 The policies, ethos, and direction of the army is described using the word ‘doctrine’, derived from the Latin notion of the teacher.
21 https://jive.defencegateway.mod.uk/docs/DOC-790066AGAI. AGAI 105 Vol 3, Chapter 105, The Role of the Chaplain. 1–1. accessed January 07, 2024. This paper is in the process of being rewritten to reflect the recruitment and incorporation of ‘non-religious pastoral officers’ into the Royal Army chaplains’ Department.
22 Ibid., 2.
23 Army Doctrine Primer. May, 2011. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a79b6c540f0b63d72fc7eac/20110519ADP_Army_Doctrine_Primerpdf.pdf, 1–3.
24 https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/chief-the-general-staff-speech-at-rusi-land-warfare-conference (accessed January 07, 2024).
25 AGAI 105, The Role of the Chaplain, 1–2.
26 AGAI 105, The Role of the Chaplain, 2–1.
27 AGAI 105, The Role of the Chaplain, 3–2.
28 AGAI 105, The Role of the Chaplain, 3-4–3-5.
29 Michael Burleigh, ‘Is God on our side? Morality in World War Two (an edited version of the Annual Basil Liddle Hart Lecture)’ (Standpoint, November 2010), 75.
30 It is an interesting point of discussion that being a ‘force multiplier’ is not in itself a negative concept if, for example, the enemy force is demonstrating a malevolence and destructive power likely to threaten civilisation or civility of life. To suggest that all ‘force multiplication’ by Chaplains is wrong, would necessitate a pacifist perspective.
31 Andrew Totten, ‘Contextual Issues: War and Peace’, in A Handbook of chaplaincy Studies: Understanding Spiritual Care in Public Places, ed. Christopher Swift, Mark Cobb and Andrew Todd. Ashgate Contemporary Ecclesiology Series (London: Routledge, 2015), 225.
32 Totten, ‘Contextual Issues: War and Peace’, 225.
33 Ibid.
34 Ibid.
35 Joint Service Protocol 830 (JSP 830), Version 2.0, 1-18-4. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/43291/Ch18.pdf (accessed January 14, 2024).
36 https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/careers/roles/chaplain (accessed January 7, 2024).
37 ‘Mess’ is the term for the area in the Army where Officers and Sergeants socialise and eat, from the Old French term mes, itself derived from the Latin maneres, for ‘dwelling place.’
38 Galatians 3.28 NRSV.
39 Matthew 20.28. NRSV.
40 A chaplain to trainee chaplains at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Commissioning Course Short (CCS231). February 2023.
41 Totten, ‘Contextual Issues: War and Peace’, 224.
42 Paul Ballard, ‘Locating Chaplaincy: A Theological Note’, in Crucible (July-September 2009), 18–24.
43 Margaret Whipp, ‘Embedding Chaplaincy’, in A Christian Theology of Chaplaincy, ed. John Caperon, Andrew Todd and James Walters, 104. The Worker Priests was a daring mission or social experiment set up by the Roman Catholic Church in 1940s France. The simple idea was to send priests to work in industrial settings, such as factories or docks. Indistinguishable in look and duties from their fellow workers, the idea was to reclaim working men and women who had ceased to worship. It initially gained some traction in France, Belgium and Italy before it was discouraged, following priests becoming involved in the workers’ rights movements.
44 Whipp, ‘Embedding Chaplaincy’, 101.
45 Ibid., 104–105.
46 Elaine Graham, Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Public Theology in a Post Secular Age (London: SCM, 2013).
47 Whipp, ‘Embedding Chaplaincy’, 116.
48 Ibid., 103.
49 Samuel Wells, A Nazareth Manifesto being wih God (Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2015).
50 The Gospel of John, NRSV. Author’s italicisation.
51 Wells, A Nazareth Manifesto being wih God, 3.
52 Lux Mundi was a set of theological essays published in 1889 with the subtitle A Series of Studies in the Religion of the Incarnation. In it, the authors set about the task of fleshing out the pastoral and ministerial theological implications of the Anglo-Catholic revival of preceding decades. The essays within the book together form an approach to ministry that has become known in shorthand as ‘incarnational’; central to this is the pastoral, liturgical, and teaching work of the priest in persona Christi.
53 Ibid., 24.
54 Wells, A Nazareth Manifesto being wih God. Ibid.
55 Ibid.
56 Ibid.
57 Ibid., Chapter 7.
58 https://www.forces.net/news/op-teamwork-army-tackle-cultural-and-inclusivity-issues-amongst-force (accessed January 11, 2024).
59 Samuel Wells, Incarnational Ministry: Being with the Church (London: SCM Canterbury Press, 2017), 9.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Gregory Platten
Gregory Platten works at Lichfield Cathedral, as the Canon Chancellor. The role involves overseeing education, mission, and engagement. His is also a Chaplain to the British Army Reserve, serving with an infantry battalion.