Care for the Sorrowing Soul: Healing Moral Injuries from Military Service and Implications for the Rest of Us

Moral Injury is now recognized as a growing major problem for military men and women. Operant conditioning can overwhelm moral convictions and yet the question of whether to shoot or not to shoot often will never have a settled answer. Certain theories and treatment models about MI have been well developed but too often overlook root issues of religious faith. The authors propose a new model for understanding moral injury and suggest ways to mitigate its virtually inevitable occurrence in pre-combat training and ways to resolve MI post-trauma with proven spiritual resources. People outside the military too among whom the incidence of MI also is a growing threat will benefit from this analysis. The stories of the injured--their shaping and their telling--are the key and there are many illumining stories of moral injury and recovery. Those who suffer MI their families and caregivers including counselors pastors and faith communities will find hope-giving first steps toward the healing of MI in this book. Books on moral injury often culminate with this message--such wounds need the healing of forgiveness. Concepts and practices presented by Duane Larson and Jeff Zust provide much-needed insight about soul care. Their ideas and experiences offer the balm of grace and thoughtful attention to forgiveness. --Eric Wester Chaplain Retired US Army Lutheran Pastor War is always ugly. Moral injury is the result of some of this ugliness and when it comes to moral injury rank doesnt matter. My colleague Jeff Zust and his co-author Duane Larson have written a book that dives into this important subject with the professionalism expertise and compassion needed to help all combatants their families and friends understand and deal with the resulting ugliness. --Richard B. Myers General USAF Ret. 15th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff President of Kansas State University Over my years of teaching professional military ethics moral injury has increasingly become a topic in classroom discussions. During the years we worked together Jeff Zust taught me most of what I know about moral injury. I draw on his ideas frequently and my work will no doubt be enriched by the book Jeff and Duane Larson have written. --Albert C. Pierce Professor of Ethics and National Security National Defense University Washington D.C. Military service can lead to invisible injuries that push traditional boundaries between body mind heart and soul. In turn holistic and collaborative approaches are needed to restore belonging and purpose with service members and veterans. Grounded in careful scholarship and firsthand ministry experiences this important book will aid anyone working to heal moral injuries in this population. --Joseph M. Currier Director of Clinical Training Combined Clinical and Counseling Psychology Doctoral Program University of South Alabama During a low ebb in our national identity Duane Larson and Jeff Zust provide a comprehensive pastoral response to the quagmire of moral injury that should win an award in the finest of public theology. This text is a clear eyed assessment of the soldier as moral actor of the complexity of combatant experience and of moral injury. The book never loses sight of the displacing power of cruelty yet alongside the truth of divine solidarity as the source of human hope. Care for the Sorrowing Soulmatches the humility of its authors with the competence of what they know and I will carry its lessons with me for a long time. There are indeed lots of implications for the rest of us! --Michael Reid Trice Associate Professor of Theological Ethics and Constructive Theology Seattle University Duane Larson is senior pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church Houston Texas. A systematic theologian he also teaches at the University of Houston Texas. Duane has written and lectured widely on theology and science ethics and ecumenical and interf