History of Military Chaplaincy from the Early Modern Period to Contemporary Times

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The objective of this study is the preparation of a history of military chaplaincy in Europe. It uses the tract on the question “Whether Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved” by Reformer Martin Luther as starting point. Since the collapse of the Catholic cosmos the early modern military enterprisers and their bands of mercenaries started to serve with their own religious affiliations. Three types of denominations emerged: Lutheran, Reformed and Catholic. The question rises if these different types of denomination and religion are affiliated with different types of military organisation. The multi-ethnic state of Austria also introduced military chaplains from Orthodox Southeast European national churches and Muslim pastoral care in the course of the 19th century. These days, members of all above mentioned Christian denominations and of Islam are involved in pastoral care for military personnel – but not in all European countries. Germany, for instance, does not (yet) offer Muslim pastoral care; in the Netherlands, there is Muslim pastoral care as well as secular humanist care for military personnel. The pastoral counsellors for military personnel are integrated within the military organisation in accordance with national regulations. They are connected to the churches they represent in very different ways. In France, they report to the military leadership, whereas Germany chose a model, in which Catholic and Protestant as well as Jewish military chaplains are embedded in the Bundeswehr as civil servants on limited appointment; the military bishop, however, is only associated with the Church, and in terms of protocol he is equal to the Minister of Defence. The status of a civil servant on limited appointment is intended to strengthen the link to the delegating church or the Central Council of the Jews and to avoid too much involvement in the military organisation. Especially due to their freedom from military leadership, the military chaplains in the Bundeswehr are to act as “windows into civilian life” (Sigurd Rink) and to prevent service members from falling victim to the often-described internal logic and dynamic of hate and violence. Religion and the military are two very different functional relationships, each of which represents a specific functional logic. On the one hand, there are transcendence and individual conscience, and on the other hand there is the enforcement of law with military force, if necessary. The logics of Christianity and Judaism are oriented towards peaceful coexistence of human beings and peoples in the present time and in Eschaton.