✉️ intro letter to Hauerwas
*The following was a snail mail letter I sent to Stanley Hauerwas in June 2010 as I departed Honolulu bound for Durham, NC after he agreed to be my academic advisor for my MTS.
Professor Hauerwas,
Hopefully you remember our conversations last spring about my decision to attend Duke and study theology and political theory with you this next couple of years while I pursue an MTS. I am writing you today to begin a conversation about that endeavor, to introduce you to my aspirations and to hear from you your limitations, given your pending retirement.
First, a bit of history about myself; I will be 28 as I begin my MTS, and I will be starting directly after having completed my BA in Human Services (Nonprofit Management concentration) from a university in Honolulu, HI. Prior to my time in school, I spent over six years on active duty in the Army, wherein I served as an artillery forward observer (FO for short). FOs control the entire indirect weapons arsenal in the Army; artillery, mortars, attack helicopters, fixed wing aircraft, etc. I do not mention this to brag, but to indicate a bit of baggage I bring to the table.
In 2006, after returning from 14 months on the closest thing that exists to a conventional “frontlines” in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, I had what I describe as a moral/spiritual awakening. Long story short, I applied to be a noncombatant conscientious objector. The circumstances being as they were, this also was a request to return to Iraq without a weapon. I felt strongly about serving our country but even more strongly about fulfilling Christ’s command to love (not bomb) our enemies. Long story short, I was waved off as maladjusted (as a noncommissioned officer, after over 6 years, and three combat decorations) being honorably discharged from service in November of that year.
Since that time, I have continued to work in the realm of religion and the military, on a practical level as well as on an ideological level. I am very intrigued by what is commonly referred to as The American Experiment; the convergence of democracy, freedom, religion, (and more recently and troublingly) capitalism and military strength. As I mentioned in a voicemail message in the spring, I am hoping to study what I call The Triple A’s (Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas) in light of philosophers that formed the foundation of our government (Kant, Locke, Madison, etc.). Needless to say, law and economics are peripheral interests of mine, but I do not expect to incorporate them into my MTS thesis at this time.
Before I worry you too much, I should say that Bonhoeffer and Yoder are much closer to my heart than any of the aforementioned individuals. I particularly am interested in what they have to say about the relationship between the Church and the state. However, I am disappointed in that Yoder appeared to do little outside academia, and Bonhoeffer did too much (effectively conceding that violence would have the final word).
All of that is beside the point, I suppose. My interest now is to begin to think through with you how our interactions might play out in a way that respects your time and energy, but that also is able to (as much as possible) satisfy my desire to glean what I can from your mentorship. I should say that I have a very high view of education, since both my parents are middle school teachers in some of the most depressed districts in Southern California. To my admiration, they have absolutely poured their hearts out for their kids, which maybe someday I will do for college students.
Tied up in my academic interests are my practical interests. At the risk of sounding immodest, in the same way Bentham had prison reform as his project, Mill had women’s suffrage, and you might have care for the elderly, infirm, and mentally handicapped (through L’arche), I hope to focus my immediate efforts on military reform. My main area of activity is in conscientious objection (CO), especially selective CO. By advancing selective CO (SCO), it is my hope to make it harder for Empire to co-opt Christian imagination by making it easier to serve our nation without carrying the sword.
In that regard, I have been active in a number of various ways to decriminalize SCO as well as advocate on behalf of other veterans and service members of faith. Most of this work is done through a small nonprofit group I co-founded called Centurions Guild. Furthermore, I am currently proposing a book to IVP that will illustrate figures in Christian and American history that challenge the popular assumption that American Christians have been quietly and unquestioningly obeyed man before God (folks like Martin of Tours, Julia Ward Howe, Desmond Doss, Phil Berrigan, etc.). I am aware that your next book of essays will be titled War and the American Difference: A Christian Alternative, and I suspect that it will be one of my new favorite books.
As for the academic year, I know that a thesis advisor often does an independent reading or directed study as part of the paradigm, usually in the third semester. Of course, knowing your imminent departure from institutional academia, I would like to steal as much of your time and energy as you will allow. Perhaps, during my first year, monthly or bimonthly meetings, in which I pick your brain about a certain topic or book that corresponds to my thesis, is one way to accomplish that. The third semester could be the directed study or writing and the final semester would be back to monthly meetings for revision or whatever needs to take place to finalize the thesis.
Of course I don’t want to involve myself to an overbearing degree, so please consider these just initial thoughts. I will, as we used to say in the Army, “take all commands from the tower,” which means you will have the final say. Anyway, I look forward to being in touch with you, and hope this letter finds you in good health. I wish I could have begun this earlier, but my summer schedule is such that my time was in very short supply. I look forward to seeing you in Elkhart at the end of this month.
Peace,
