Nancy Kennedy
Leafwood, 2011

Miracles and Moments of Grace, subtitled Inspiring Stories from Military Chaplains, is a noble attempt at telling the stories of military Chaplains. Each of its 50 chapters is a story from a military Chaplain, most told in a first person narrative.  Almost all of the Chaplains are from a Christian faith tradition; a few Jewish Chaplains are included.

The stories cover the gamut of the modern Chaplaincy, with tales of Chaplains preventing troops’ suicide, notifying families of their Soldier’s death, or giving a first hand account of the bombings in Beirut or Khobar Towers. In that regard, it shows the wide array of experiences US military Chaplains encounter in their service.

The stories themselves vary from extremely well-written to somewhat disjointed, and from poignant to head-scratching. Some are clear narrative, others are formatted like an interview transcript. Some were transcribed specifically for the book, others are excerpted from other prior sources.

The downside of a compilation or anthology is the challenge of finding and communicating a unifying element or consistent theme, and this is Miracles and Moments greatest weakness. It does not appear the author attempted to connect the stories or to weave a unifying theme throughout the book. The book is literally a sequential collection of 50 individual, unrelated, and unconnected short stories.

The individual stories, too, sometimes seem to lack a central theme or point within themselves. With 50 stories covering a mere 240 pages, many are simply too short — they cover what should be a complex story so quickly as to be superficial. Several are interesting reads, but it is sometimes unclear what message the reader is supposed to walk away from the story with, other than having read a short story from a Chaplain.

Many of the stories would have benefited from a concluding paragraph communicating the significance of the Chaplain’s story, to know the lessons learned or “moral” of the story.

Topically, there is little mention of the practical aspects of Christian living in the military, nor is there any substantial guidance on applying the Christian faith to the military lifestyle.

The book would likely have benefited from halving the number of included stories and expanding on those that remained. Including more details, explaining the theme, and grouping the stories by central idea would have greatly enhanced the delivery and made the entire work a more worthwhile read.

Recommended, but only to a limited audience specifically looking for Chaplain anecdotes (future Chaplains curious about their potential career may be interested, or those who write about or research the Chaplaincy). A few of the stories may serve as a starting point to research the full “story behind the story” for those keenly interested in the topic.

This book is available at Amazon. (This site is an Amazon Associate and may earn from qualifying purchases made through Amazon referrals.)

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