Zachary Zumwalt, MRPL ’23, is an active-duty Navy chaplain (20 years) who has served in Korea, Japan, and around the United States. As a member of the second MRPL cohort, he explored religious literacy in the context of the U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps—specifically how it could inform emerging work in conflict prevention within the Indo-Pacific region.
Zachary Zumwalt has led worship services on land, on ships, and under the sea. Prior to becoming a Navy chaplain, he was an enlisted sailor assigned to work on submarines, which do not have chaplain crew members. While deployed, Zumwalt voluntarily led worship services—a practice he enjoyed before it officially became his profession. “I decided this is my passion and this is what God is calling me to do—ministry and the military,” Zumwalt shares. “Isn’t it a perfect marriage to do both at the same time?”
His career gained momentum when he was selected for the Navy Chaplain Corps’ Advanced Education Program, a fully funded opportunity, focusing on religion and culture. For Zumwalt, the graduate program had to fit certain criteria: first, it could only span a year, to fit within the Navy’s requirements. Second, it was important to find a school that would teach him to translate the theoretical into real-world practices. Finally, Zumwalt wanted to attend a school that would allow him to complement divinity studies with other areas of interest.
“There is no separation between religious practices, ideas, and values and our understanding of social or historical dynamics,” Zumwalt explains. “You can’t understand a culture without understanding its religious dimensions—religion not only shapes, but is also shaped by, all those contexts.” He credits Diane Moore, associate dean for the Religion and Public Life program, and his master of religion and public life (MRPL) cohort, with bringing this critical understanding of religious literacy into clearer focus.
Attending a university like Harvard, Zumwalt was expecting a hierarchical “one-way conversation” from professors and scholars. He was thrilled to discover they were just as interested in learning from him as he was in learning from them. He found faculty and peers who were sincere in their desire to make the world a better place and passionate about learning to combine past knowledge with present learning—all while staying personally grounded and engaged in their work.
“I want to approach the rest of my military career in the same way HDS professors approached me—with appreciation, curiosity, and a desire to understand different viewpoints. How it was modeled to me by my professors is something that I hope to model myself and share with the rest of the Navy Chaplain Corps.”
Zumwalt is now stationed in Singapore and has been tasked with developing relationships with American partners and allies within the country and around the Indo-Pacific. He hopes to connect with local community leaders, strengthen international relations, and lead collaborative peacebuilding efforts with a new perspective. While in Singapore, he is also serving as a fellow with the United States Institute of Peace.
—by Danielle Daphne Ang