Women of the Cross and Flag
A review of women who held positions in religion and war.
Introduction
American women can look to history for inspirational examples of female religious and military leadership. Despite the patriarchal intentional silencing, erasure, and deaths of women, feminine spirit and strength have not only persisted but have led and ministered to armies of nations throughout history, globally, and here in America. The inclusion of women in the U.S. military was formalized in 1974 but was first seen almost a century earlier amidst the American women’s movement of the 19th century. The women of the 1800s were inspired by the women who came before them, who were inspired by the women who came before them, and so forth. The lineage of modern-day female chaplains in the American military stands both on the shoulders and shoulder-to-shoulder of a pyramid of ancestral women, and their link holds firm against the constant barrage of patriarchal verbal, physical, legal, and social discriminatory attacks. Each female military chaplain owes their life to the women before them who fought for the right to serve and leader under God and for their country.
This essay examines the history of women's leadership in military and religious settings, the circumstances of the creation and evolution of female chaplaincy in the U.S. military, and the role of female military chaplains today. I will explore notable women of military and religious world history; describe the role of religious pluralism, women's legal empowerment, and the inclusion of women into the military in America; and detail the existing realities and contributions of female chaplains in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Notable Military and Religious Women of World History
St. Joan of Arc (France)
Arguably the most famous female faith and military leader in world history, the story of Saint Joan of Arc of France has inspired civilian and military women alike. Joan of Arc was born a peasant in the 1400s, a time of witch-hunting and heresy-hunting, both of which Joan was caught between. Joan’s mystic visions were common, as she was preceded by popular mystics such as Hildegard of Bingen and Catherine of Siena. Joan of Arc was no different. She began seeing visions and hearing voices of St. Michael, St. Catherine of Alexandria, and St. Margaret of Antioch at the age of 13. The use of mysticism to spread theological or political perspectives was a popular form of mixing pagan beliefs and institutionalized Christianity.
During the spread of Christian Europe, controversial questions centered on who had the authority to have a legitimate divine relationship with God – individuals or the Church? Amidst religious tensions lay European political conflicts, most notably between England and France. Joan’s village, Domrémy, was near the battleground of France and England-Burgundians, and many of her people evacuated their village in pursuit of safety. Led by her visions, Joan traveled to the frontline of Vaucouleurs to ask the garrison captain to speak to the dauphin. He denied her visions and requests, and she returned to her village. Still, the visions came to her, and she was later granted approval to visit with the dauphin.
After intense examination of her theology and rumored ‘witchcraft,’ the losing and desperate French councils granted her a small military outside of Orléans, a besieged city. She wore full armor, carried her banner of Christ, and led numerous campaigns against the English, all the while holding steadfast to her prayers and visions. She faced challenges of heresy and sexism within her own army, but after leading to successful victories, she became the ‘Maid of Orléans.’
She was captured in battle by the English and abandoned by many of her French military supporters while they worked towards a truce with the English. She was imprisoned for four months, stood a trial of questions accusing her of heresy and witchcraft, and eventually was turned over to the people, who burned her at the stake. She is considered a martyr and was canonized in 1920.
Fu Hao (China)
Fu Hao, or Lady Hao, is one of the most extraordinary women of the ancient world. Fu Hao was one of King Wu Dang’s 64 wives during the Shang dynasty in the 13th century BCE. She was considered his second most important wife in the royal consort of three women and was given the title of High Priestess and military general, along with her land. The most remarkable records of her lay in her tomb, where many artifacts were found.
Before the 1976 discovery of her tomb, her name was only noted in “oracle bones,” animal bones with inscribed divination requests used in ceremonies. Querants would ask questions while the diviner heated the bones over a fire, and the cracks in the bones foretold the answers. Following the ceremony, the diviner inscribed the date, the people involved, the question, and the response. King Wu Dang frequently attended these divination rituals and regularly asked questions about Fu Hao, including her childbirth and health. It is from these bones that historians knew she was important, but only until the excavation of her intact tomb, which was placed 200 meters away from Shang royalty and away from graverobbers, could more about Fu Hao’s legacy be learned.
Lady Hao served as a military commander and was buried with 130 military weapons in her tomb. She reigned over 13,00 troops, won many battles, and participated, or possibly oversaw, decapitation rituals, as noted in the executioner yue axes with her inscribed name and husband’s family’s seal of the dragon. In the oracle bones, 600 female names are inscribed in military-related questions, proving that women served in military roles as fellow warriors.
Her role as the High Priestess was evident in the 200 bronze vessels used for ritual purposes. The elaborate casted vessels featuring animals and masks were used for drinking and pouring for sacred rituals. Also discovered in her tomb were over 700 jade objects, more than 500 bone objects, 200 other bronze objects, 16 dogs, and 16 human sacrifices.
Following her death, King Wu Ding and his sons cast special vessels for sacrifices for her burial. The Shang dynasty used a 10-day calendar week, and ‘Xin’ refers to the name of one of the days. Fa Hao was honored on ‘Xin’ day with gifts and sacrifices from her ancestors.
Tamar of Georgia (Eastern Europe)
Tamar of Georgia (1184 to 1213) was the only child of King George III of integrated Georgia. He proclaimed she would reign alongside him as co-monarch when she turned 12, and the royal court unanimously agreed to respect their king’s wishes. King George III and Tamar ruled for five years together until his death, and Tamar took over the throne independently. She was called ‘King’ as Georgia did not have a word for a female monarch who was not a consort. She was highly involved in the Church council and clergy meetings, declaring, “You as priests and I as ruler, you as stewards of good and I as the watchman of that good.” The councils chose a suitor for King Tamar, but Yuri’s public immorality and drunkenness ultimately gave way to their divorce, which was exceedingly rare in those days. However, her beauty was known throughout the lands, and she was able to find a match, David Soslan, and secure the throne with two children.
Her Christian kingdom was threatened by Muslim armies to their east. During a military campaign, Yuri, Tamar’s ex-husband, led a rebellion against Georgia but was defeated, and King Tamar granted him mercy. Yuri joined the Muslim army and again was defeated, but this time David, Tamar’s husband, blinded Yuri before she could grant Yuri clemency.
A series of battles ensued, and King Tamar led her armies while pregnant with her third child. After securing her eastern borders, she took advantage of the fall of Constantinople during the 4th Crusades and focused on acquiring territories along the Black Sea. The Byzantine Empire had become a land grab, and King Tamar led her armies from Trebizond to Iran through inspirational speeches, strategic planning, and prayers.
Georgia reached its greatest territorial and political height under King Tamar and was undisputedly a major regional power. Tamar is one of the most praised medieval rulers of Georgia and has been written about and exalted by both medieval and modern Georgians.
History of women’s advancements in America
Religious pluralism and democracy as stepping stones to women’s empowerment
The American Revolution of 1776, a Protestant-born movement against British tyranny, allowed American political leaders to consider the failures of past religious and government institutions and write governing documents for the new nation. Before the revolution, the religious diversity and fracturing of the Protestant Reformation and colonialism were not just amongst religions but within denominations, such as the Puritans. Anne Hutchinson, an outspoken Puritan Christian woman in Boston, preached a form of feminist theology and claimed her existence was validated by God, not by the patriarchal social order. Within two years of her 1634 arrival in America, she was denigrated, banished, and killed for her public opposition to ‘religious rules rather than God’s free grace and salvation.’
Though power and freedom were confined to the men, there were seeds of empowerment planted in the 1700s. Colonial Baptist, Puritan, and Quaker women could not be ordained, but they did make up the vast majority of participation in the congregations, and they were empowered by their interpretation of Scripture to be actively engaged in their local communities and to vote within denominational elections. The American Revolution overturned much of this progress for equality and leadership amongst women in these Christian traditions, but once the oppressed tasted freedom, that taste would be hard to forget.
The 1800s saw the women’s movement in conjunction with abolition, and the Civil War opened the opportunity for women’s military participation. Historians estimate that “nearly 20,000 women served in this war, with about 3,000 as nurses in battlefield hospitals and 1,000 or so disguised as men to fight in combat”. Notable women include Clara Barton, who served as a nurse for the Union and founded the Red Cross; the first female surgeon, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, who is the only female Medal of Honor recipient in American history; and Unitarian Reformer Dorothea Dix, the superintendent of women nurses and highest officer held by a woman in the Union Army.
Women’s ordination
This century also marked the rise of women’s ordination and church leadership. Women were ordained in various denominations of the Christian church: Clarissa Danforth became the first woman ordained as a pastor in the Free Will Baptist tradition (1815), Jarena Lee was ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal Church (1819), the Congregationalist Church ordained Antoinette Brown Blackwell (1853), the Methodist Church ordained Mary A. Will (1861), and Universalists ordained Olympia Brown (1863). Women also founded religions: Ellen G. White co-founded the Seventh Day Adventists in 1863, and Mary Baker Eddy founded the Church of Christ Scientist in 1879. Despite being illiterate, Harriet Tubman was inspired by Pastor Jarena Lee’s role that a woman could hold religious authority. She fused African and Christian values and wore a charm of spiritual protection during her service along the Underground Railroad. However, the first female rabbi, Sally Priesand, was not ordained until 1972.
Women’s participation in the military
The 1900s were a hallmark century for women in the military. World War I (1939-1945) enabled women to serve openly in military support roles, such as the ‘yeomanettes’ of the Navar Reserve, who served as translators and clerks, and the ‘Hello Girls’ who translated French in the Army Signal Corps, though they could not serve in combat. World War II (1939-1945) saw a greater need for more servicemembers, and more than 350,000 women were enlisted across all branches. Following the war, President Truman passed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, which included women in veterans' benefits and granted them status in all branches in permanent, regular, and reserve roles. Unfortunately, women were immediately discharged if they became pregnant.
Women served in the Korean (120,000 women) and Vietnam Wars from 1950-1975. 11,000 women voluntarily served on the frontlines as nurses in Vietnam, one of our most violent wars. President Johnson enacted promotions for women to commanding ranks, including commanding over the infantries of men.
The 1980s and 1990s also witnessed historic firsts for women in the military, including the first woman to command a naval ship, the first four-star general in the Army, and the first woman to command troops in combat. Over 40,000 women served in the Gulf War, and after President Clinton retracted the ‘Risk Rule’ in 1994, women could serve in combat. Since 9/11, more than 300,000 women have served in the Iraq War, and in 2005, Army Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester was the first woman since WWII to receive the Silver Star award for her service in Iraq and was the first woman to receive the award in direct combat. Over 100 women have graduated from the Army Ranger School, others have graduated from the Navy SEALS program, and more than 9,000 women have earned Combat Action Badges.
Today, more than 16% of our military is comprised of women, an astounding jump from the 2% rule that existed across branches in the Korean War.
Modern-day female chaplains in the U.S. military
Military chaplaincy was used in the Roman Empire around the 5th century and onwards (before the 5th century, they served the State cult and not the spiritual-well being of the soldiers); Medieval Ages (Joan of Arc); and in all European and all American wars. They serve in all branches and Reserve and Active Duty roles. As more women participated in the military and religious ordination, women made strides in crossing the two sectors through military chaplaincy. They faced obstacles not only through sexual harassment but also discrimination, especially amongst evangelical chaplains who denounce religious pluralism and women’s ordination. They face conflicting morality between the decisions of the State in war and the morals of their faiths, and they are tasked with working alongside the validity of all faiths: America’s religious pluralism brought spiritual diversity to the military, and chaplains from all faiths were needed to care to the servicemembers.
Notable female chaplains
Female chaplains have consoled grieving family members, assisted with PTSD and alcoholism, held steadfast prayers for the paralyzed and injured, and have tended to the last moments of the dying. We owe our gratitude to the women serving our country and God. May we keep them in our prayers. The following acknowledges the following ‘historic first’ female chaplains.
In 1864, Elvira “Ella” Gibson became the first woman to serve the U.S. military in a chaplaincy role, and in 2002, the government finally recognized her as a commission officer. The Navy was the first branch to commission a female chaplain, Dianna Pohlman Bell, in 1973. That same year, the U.S. Air Force commissioned their first female chaplain, Lorraine Potter. In 1974, Alice M. Henderson became the first woman to serve officially as a chaplain in the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps and was also the first woman of color to serve as a chaplain in any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. In 1981, Bonnie Koppell became the first female rabbi chaplain in the U.S. military through the Army Reserves.
In 2004, the Navy commissioned Jeanette Gracie Shin as the first Buddhist chaplain in the U.S. military. Pratima Dharm became the first Hindu chaplain in the U.S. military, through the Army, in 2011. In 2020, the US Air Force commissioned Saleha Jabeen as the first female Muslim chaplain in the U.S. military, and 2022, Jenna Carson became the first female military chaplain endorsed by the Catholic Church through the Air Force.
Conclusion
Where would we be without strong women? Had the courageous women before us not trusted their God, heeded the call of service and ministry to their people, and shouldered through barriers, female chaplains would not be standing here today. Women have endured sexual assault, discrimination, erasure, and even death, and yet it was women who found their stories and preached their inspiration to inspire the next woman to keep marching forward.
Today, it is a joyful rarity when a woman is a ‘historic first,’ as pioneers paved the way for more women to join the ranks of the clergy and military leadership. However, the pioneers did so mainly alone and in generations that were far more hostile to women than modern day. Female chaplains may not carry weapons, but they carry the sword of the Lord and strength of God (in whatever religion and lexicon that manifests) and have answered the call to serve our nation in the patriarchal, hyper-masculine setting of the U.S. military. Strong women: may we thank them, may we be them.
Amen.
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