Topic: A Conversation about Moral Injury

Presenters: Nancy J. Ramsay

Nancy J. Ramsay, Director of the Soul Repair Center, Brite Divinity School, will discuss “Moral Injury,” a new term for an ancient idea.  We find it described in ancient Greek mythology and in the Hebrew Bible or Christian Old Testament such as when after battle the Hebrew men would have a ritual of cleansing from the moral harm of killing and witnessing killing before they returned to their families. During the Crusades, when soldiers returned home, they spent a year in practices of penance including meeting regularly with a priest before they could once again take communion. This was not punishment, but a recognition of the moral harm of taking the life of others and the need for ongoing reflection and hopefully coming to terms with the burden of one’s conscience—the awareness that each of us as reflective persons know the reality of failing to be who we intend to be or failing to act in ways that reflect our deepest conscience. These illustrations of such ancient practices remind us of the morally injurious power of suffering and the need to acknowledge it.  Moral Injury seeks to name this deep suffering that calls for our response. It is an experience of witnessing, failing to prevent, or learning about unnecessary violence as a betrayal of our obligations to one another. 

Moral injury arises in two forms: 

Agential moral injury describes harm we cause. It is our own failure to act in ways that align with our deepest values.

Receptive moral injury is the harm that arises from the actions of others that cause our pain such as sexual and domestic violence and gun violence. 

Pastoral Theologian, Larry Kent Graham: described moral injury as “soul wounds” (Moral injury: Restoring Wounded Souls, Abingdon, 2017).

Dr. Ramsay says, “In our conversation, I will draw on Graham; Holocaust survivor and philosopher Emmanual Levinas; medical sociologist, Arthur Frank; marriage and family therapist, Pauline Bos, and scriptures such as Gen. 32:24-32 (Jacob wrestling at the Jabbok). 

In my experience, moral injury—both agential and receptive—is familiar to any reflective person, and I hope we will have a rich conversation about ways it informs our lives and relationships and convictions as citizens and persons of faith.”   (See her attached biodata.)

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