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- Subproject: Concern and detachment in moral life
- Subproject: Pantheism and personhood in classical German philosophy
- Subproject: Law and virtue in the Protestant tradition
- Subproject: Spinoza, freedom of speech and the common good
- Subproject: Kierkegaard and transparency thinking
- Subproject: Theological perspectives on meaningful family life
- Subproject: Medical ethics at the end of life
- Subproject: The moral position of family in end of life care for people with dementia
- Subproject: The contribution of military chaplains to moral formation
- Subproject: Law, ethics and polarisation in the Bible and ancient Judaism
Subproject: The contribution of military chaplains to moral formation
The moral compass of soldiers
The development of a moral compass is of crucial importance for soldiers and in particular for military leaders, from whom moral leadership may be expected. They have to justify their military actions not only in relation to international humanitarian law, but also to their own conscience, religiously speaking: in relation to the 'divine appeal'.
Role of spiritual care
With a view to the latter, soldiers must be given the space to think through the moral questions raised by the military profession in accordance with their own philosophy of life, religion, and vision of the good life. Chaplains play an important role in guiding soldiers in this area, for instance by offering chaplaincy classes and multi-day trainings. In these settings they have to do justice to the internal perspective on morality of their own religion, while honoring the plurality of perspectives of military personnel. In this sub-project, this practice is both empirically and theoretically investigated.
Protestant theology
The involvement of Protestant chaplains, among others, in the moral education of soldiers offers them good opportunities to apply Protestant theological insights on the ethics of war and peace and the meaning of the ‘the good’ to military practice in a secularized context. How can insights developed from Protestant theology about war and peace, divine law and human law be meaningful for soldiers who have a different or no clearly defined philosophy of life?
Research
In view of this, it is important to know which moral questions and challenges soldiers face in practice and how they deal with them based on their own philosophy of life. It is also important to examine what the contribution of chaplains to the moral formation of soldiers looks like in practice. Based on this empirical research, it is then investigated which specific Protestant theological insights can help soldiers maintain their moral integrity in the performance of their morally complex profession.
Researchers
Key publications
- Thijs Oosterhuis, Pieter Vos & Erik Olsman, Protestant theological perspectives on the contribution of military chaplains to moral formation, International Journal for Public Theology, 17:1 (2023), 5-23.
- Thijs Oosterhuis, Erik Olsman & Pieter Vos, The contribution of chaplaincy classes to the moral formation of future military leaders: An ethnographic study in Dutch military chaplaincy. British Journal of Religious Education, 2025 https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2024.2433989.
