Candler Moral Injury
Margaret Grun Kibben (left) (Image credit: United States Department of Defense) Rita Nakashima Brock (right)
The Laney Legacy in Moral Leadership Program at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology will host three events in October around the concept of moral injury, the emotional and spiritual pain that can afflict soldiers and others who are asked to perform actions that run counter to their moral codes.
- Worship in Cannon Chapel on Oct. 12 will feature guest preacher Rear Adm. Margaret Grun Kibben, chief of chaplains of the United States Navy.
- On Oct. 13, the Rev. Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock, senior vice president for Moral Injury Programs at Volunteers of America, will give an evening lecture on "The Moral Injuries of a Country: War's Legacies and the Agonies of Now."
- An Oct. 14 morning symposium on moral injury rounds out the opportunities. These events are free and open to the public, with registration required for the Oct. 13 lecture and the Oct. 14 symposium. Register here.
The concept of moral injury is an important and revealing way to think about how humans experience the collapse of moral order, says Robert M. Franklin Jr., James T. and Berta R. Laney Professor of Moral Leadership.
"Moral injury is urgently relevant for our time,” says Franklin. “It can be detected everywhere from our national political arena to foreign battlefields and our city streets. The good news is that such injury can be understood and healed."
The Oct. 12 worship service will take place in Cannon Chapel from 11:05 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The worship service will be live streamed. Watch here.
Rear Adm. Kibben assumed her current duties as the 26th chief of chaplains of the Navy in August 2014, the first woman ever to hold the post.
Kibben received her master of divinity and doctor of ministry degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary, and holds a master's degree in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College. She entered active duty in the Navy in 1986, and has served with both the Marines and the Navy, including deployments to Turkey, Norway and Afghanistan.
She was the first female chaplain at the U.S. Naval Academy, and served as the 18th chaplain of the U.S. Marine Corps and deputy chief of chaplains from 2010 to 2014. Kibben has been awarded the Legion of Merit with one gold star, the Bronze Star, the Meritorious Service Medal with two gold stars, and the Navy Commendation Medal with two gold stars.
Rita Nakashima Brock will present the keynote lecture, "The Moral Injuries of a Country: War's Legacies and the Agonies of Now," on Oct. 13 at 6:30 p.m. in Cannon Chapel. The lecture will examine, through the lens of moral injury, the recurring and lingering traumatic events that have propelled significant social change in American society and the current context of backlash attempting to reach back to a discredited past.
Brock is senior vice president for moral injury programs at Volunteers of America (VOA). Prior to her work at VOA, she served as co-founder and director of the Soul Repair Center at Brite Divinity School.
A native of Fukuoka, Japan, Brock came to the United States at age six and grew up in a military family. She earned her PhD at Claremont Graduate University, and became the first Asian American woman ever to earn a doctorate in theology and the first to serve on the Board of Directors for the American Academy of Religion. Brock was a professor of religion and women's studies for 18 years before becoming director of the Fellowship Program of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.
She is the co-author of “Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire” (2008) and “Soul Repair: Recovering from Moral Injury After War” (2013).
The Oct. 14 symposium, "Creating Communities of Moral Repair and Moral Courage" will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Candler, and will include a panel discussion and workshops.
"As we welcome Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock, one of the nation's foremost experts on moral injury and soul repair, I hope that Candler students, alumni and religious leaders in the metro Atlanta community will take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity to increase their awareness of, and their capacity to respond effectively to moral injury in the 21st century," says Franklin, the inaugural holder of the Laney Moral Leadership chair.
The Laney Legacy in Moral Leadership was established in memory of James T. and Berta R. Laney. According to the announcement of Dr. Franklin's appointment, "Jim Laney, who led the university from 1977-1993 and served as Candler's dean from 1969-1977, believed in providing service to the world by engaging in the traditions, values, virtues and vision of the community. Berta Laney provided dedicated service to others, creative initiative in numerous educational programs, and active engagement for justice and peace."
Elaine Justice serves as associate director of media relations for United Methodist-related Emory University in Atlanta.