Rev. Dr. Jonathan Shaw

About

The Rev. Dr. Jonathan E. Shaw is a pastor, writer, educator and retired U.S. Army chaplain who serves The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) as director of Church Relations. He assists the LCMS president, the chief ecumenical officer of the Synod, in inter-church relations in 60 countries with 103 church bodies: 44 are sister churches united in altar and pulpit fellowship; 36 are associate church bodies working toward and praying for future fellowship through theological education, dialogue and mercy; and 23 are other churches conversing for faithful ecumenism and united ethical expression to the world. The goal is to develop closer working relationships among confessional Lutheran church bodies and to promote unity in Christ and His Word worldwide. In his position, Shaw works closely with the LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations, the Office of International Mission, the Synod's seminaries, the districts, and the International Lutheran Council, a worldwide association of confessional Lutheran churches founded by the LCMS. Shaw and his wife, Brenda, married in 1980 and are blessed with three adult children and seven grandchildren.

Before becoming director of Church Relations, Shaw served as a U.S. Army chaplain (colonel), retiring from the Pentagon in October 2020 with 39 years of service. Past positions include U.S. Army Chaplain Corps director of operations for 6,000 chaplains and religious affairs specialists; command chaplain, U.S. Army Europe; professor of ethics and senior chaplain, U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pa.; command chaplain and faculty, U.S. Army Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth, Kan.; and combat operations in Panama and Iraq, with deployments and overseas postings in Europe, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Central America.

After his ordination in 1984, Shaw served LCMS parishes in Guadalajara, Mexico, and Winchester, Va., and spent nine years on the Synod's former Board for Congregational Services, concluding as its chair. He is a founding editor of the journal Gottesdienst (1992) and has published over 50 books and articles in systematic and exegetical theology, fellowship, liturgics, two-kingdom doctrine, religious liberty, religion in policy and strategy, strategic leadership, moral reasoning, moral injury, and just war.

Shaw also teaches in the Doctor of Ministry program at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne (CTSFW). His academic work includes: B.A. in Political Science, Wheaton College; M.Div. and S.T.M. in Systematic Theology and Ethics, CTSFW; M.A. in Ethics, Vanderbilt University; CGSOC in Military Doctrine and Operations, in residence at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kan.; MSS in Strategic Studies, in residence at the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pa.; and D.D., Concordia University Irvine, Irvine, Calif.