Customer Reviews

Religious Requirements and Practices of Certain Selected Groups: A Handbook for Chaplains

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well I was a little disappointed when I opened up this book. It is a good synopsis of most all the religions practiced by Americans; not just Christian, but including Wicca, Satanism, and the American council of Witches. The purpose of the book seems to be to give the commanding officers guidelines about letting theirs soldiers practice little known religions. But it does not address common chaplancy issues.

There has been a lot of controversy in the military in recent years concernong acceptable religious practices, especially for things like Wicca. The military brass needed to know if their soldiers really praciced a certain holiday, or if they were just gold-bricking. This book addresses that issue really well.

However, the book is not very useful for me in my civilian volunteer chaplancy (I am a Southern Baptist by background). I have been asked on occasion to perform certain Catholic rites; but I have had to decline, mostly due to ignorance. If I ever encouter a dying Catholic who wants to confess, would I have to say "Sorry"? What does a general protestant service consist of? This book does not address these kinds of chaplancy problems.

For what it is, the book is preety good. If any supervisor or manager needs to make decisions about an employee's demand for religious time off, this is the book to have. But it does not help the average chaplain address common cross-denominational issues.

If you are a nontraditional religion, (Such as Wiccan) this is the book to have to show your CO what's up and defend yourself from attack. I recommend it to all, as well as NCOs who want to be informed.

This is a very outlined version of most religions you may hear or read about.
It has helped me on several occasions when I needed some information when reading the paper or listening to the news.
It really tries to be unbiased/non jugmental and factual concerning the sensitive topic of religions.
In some instances I wish they would have elaborated more, but again it tries to be non-jugmental so that limits the scope a bit I'm sure.
Do you know the diffrences between Catholics and Baptists?..Protestents and Lutherians?..This book will help with those groups core diffrences.
As a reference book I rate if 5 star!!

The contents of this book were published in 1978, then copyrighted and reprinted by University Press of the Pacific in 2001, without update.
In at least the case of Wicca, the material is badly out of date and incomplete.
[...] During the 1980s, Selena Fox of Circle Sanctuary assisted the Pentagon in rewriting the Wicca section, and it is that revision which has circulated among Pagans. This book is not -- repeat, NOT -- the chaplain's manual in which that revision appears.
For a reprint discarded Army instructions, it was extrememly overpriced.

This is a military manual, and written in military field manual format. If you are not a veteran and familiar with this style, it will be odd. In short, it does give a quick reference to many different religious practices and ceremonial practices of numerous religions. Something a chaplain would do well to familiarize his or herself with it. It does not focus on Christian denominations, presumably because the military accepts predominately Christian chaplains. It does cover the methods of worship, ceremonies, and burials etc. of Islamic, Jewish, American Indian, Buddha, Pagan and other religious group of this vein.

I am glad I have it in my chaplain's library, however being a lay theologian; I was already quite familiar with all of the references - except for the `Church of Satan'!

Part of a chaplains duty is to minister to ALL faiths, not just their own as they were ordained. This is a good reference material for chaplains who are not at all familiar with other belief systems.

Even after earning a Bachelor's in Theology & a Master's in Divinity in theological seminary, pastors and ministers generally learn just about everything there is regarding religion. However, after I purchased this book and began to read it, I was most definitely and utterly surprised to say the least. No, it's not the first time I've read about Wicca, Satanism and the like regarding religion, but for it to be located in of all books a chaplain's text, is a little unusualy for the taking. This would actually be the first book I rated three stars. I suppose it's even lucky to get that.

If you're interested in unusual topics in an otherwise general chaplaincy book, then this book is for you, otherwise, I really wouldn't bother with it. Sorry everybody for the bad review, but this is truthful.

Joseph Freas, C.C., IFCC