Ministry Resource Center Articles		Servant Leadership Articles

Fit for Life, Fit for War: Reflections on the Warrior Ethos 

Stephen Muse, PhD

The effects of war are many. On a societal level we haven't prepared our men and women for war until we have prepared their hearts as well as their minds and bodies. Our soldiers, their families and the community at large share a dual mission: of going to war and coming home again, not only physically but emotionally and spiritually. Those who succeed in learning what is necessary to effectively move between these two worlds of being fit for life and fit for war tend to be among the best of the best in either realm. For each and every one it represents a communal responsibility for justice and healing.

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Heart of Faith

Stephen Muse, PhD

Reason and the scientific method have made it possible for human beings to land men on the moon, discover penicillin, transplant organs, develop cybernetic technology and map the human genome. But reason has also served in the attempted genocide of Bushmen, Armenians, Native Americans, Jews and countless other populations along the way. While a very valuable tool, in and of itself, the author suggests that reason is incapable of bringing us to faith or fully to ethical intent.  This transformation which faith makes possible, occurs when the heart repents as a result of being in the presence of the Living God results from a personal I-Thou encounter of love.

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Hunting for Life

Stephen Muse, PhD

The author, a pastoral psychotherapist, reflects on the mystery of the natural world and a young boy’s coming of age as he discovers the difference between killing in order to save and nourish life versus killing for the sheer pleasure and stimulation of invasively touching that which one has not the ability or the patience to discover how to commune with while it is yet alive. Reflection on the mystery of natural life which points to the Sacred One who is ever in the midst of it all wherever I AM, inviting a response not of domination, but of Holy Communion. From an article published in 1992 in THE OTHER SIDE magazine Vol. 27(4). The author may be contact as smuse@pilink.org.

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The Bridge Keeper

Stephen Muse, PhD

What is needed to bring peace in the world? The brutality of ethnic cleansing, religious sectarianism and authoritarian intolerance of differences reflects not love but the inner division within persons that sooner or later erupts in violence leaving further division in its wake. World discord always sprouts from tares planted among the wheat in the soul, which grow through lack of attentiveness and conscious choice, within each human being. The author describes a spiritual awakening occurring in the village of Medjugorje, Jugoslavia with apparitions of the Virgin Mary which began ten years to the day before the outbreak of the ethnic cleansing war which led to the death of millions and the creation of separate nation states within the former Jugoslavia for Serbian Orthodox Christians, Croatian Roman Catholics and Turkish Muslims. How is it possible for people of diverse cultures and religious faiths to live together, responding in their unique ways to the one Creator who has bestowed the gift of life freely to all human beings?  From an article published in 1993 in THE OTHER SIDE magazine, Vol. 29(2).  The author may be contacted at smuse@pilink.org.

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Warrior, Prophet, Priest: The Strategic Value of Chaplains to the War Effort and Community 

Stephen Muse, PhD and Chaplain (Colonel) Glen Bloomstrom

The U.S. Army chaplaincy exists in recognition that spiritual logistics and support are strategically important in war morale both in theatre as well as critical for combat veteran transitioning back home psychologically, emotionally and spiritually. Army Family Life Chaplains are specially trained to integrate both pastoral and clinical skills in order to support two missions: 1) get the soldier back to soldiering ASAP and 2) help the soldier move back into family life as quickly and easily as possible after deployment. Because a chaplain's task is to serve on these two fronts simultaneously, when fully and authentically embraced in the depths, it is also one of the most difficult assignments in the Armed Forces because the chaplain works at the heart of the tension inherent to these very different tasks of being fit for life and fit for war. 

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