The Grace in Listening to Another's Story: A Theological Reflection on Oral History in the Classroom

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Notes

1 This homily was preached on November 10, 2010, in honor of Veterans’ Day, at St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland, where the author is Chaplain and Chair of the Philosophy and Religion Department. The text for the day was Job 19:23-27a.

2 For a more detailed description, see the American Century Oral History Project at www.americancenturyproject.org (accessed April 18, 2011) and its on-line archive at the Maryland Cultural Heritage Project's Web site http://www.mdch.org/collection.aspx?id=11150 (accessed April 18, 2011).

3 My primary sources for this re-telling of the story are Dan Kurzman, No Greater Glory: The Four Immortal Chaplains and the Sinking of the Dorchester in World War II (New York: Random House, 2004) and the Web site, www.immortalchaplains.org.