Janet Horton

CHAUTAUQUA – Chaplain (Colonel) Janet Y. Horton, U.S. Army (Ret), Christian Science Military Chaplain Trainer and Endorser to the Department of Defense, First Woman Christian Science Chaplain, will present her talk, “The Birth of a New Idea,” on Thursday, AuG. 15, at 3:30 p.m., Alumni Hall Ballroom, 1970 Wythe Ave, Chautauqua. This is a free talk, open to the community, and sponsored by the Christian Science Informal Group at Chautauqua. Details are available at ChristianScience

Chautauqua.com.

As Horton will discuss, the birth of any new idea often meets resistance. In the mid 1970s, the US military forcefully integrated women into its chaplaincy. In basic training, Horton was often challenged by men predicting that she would never make it. She faced all challenges by specific study of the Bible and the writings of the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, especially her seminal work, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.” She found that every difficulty could be healed through prayer, including such problems as gender bias, sexual harassment, and religious intolerance. Janet is delighted to have been part of advancing the progress of women being accepted in the military and to change the resistance to women preaching.

Horton is a native of Crystal, Michigan. Entering the U. S. Army in 1976, she served for 28 years as a Christian Science Chaplain. She was the first woman in the Army Chaplain Corps to be assigned as a Division or Corps level Supervisory Chaplain and the first woman to attain the grade of Colonel in the Army Chaplain Corps. Horton’s degrees include a Master of Divinity from Boston University School of Theology (selected in 2011 as a Distinguished Alumni) and a Master of Arts in Religious Studies from Stanford University. She published a book in 2017 titled “Cracking the Camouflage Ceiling” about her experiences.

These are some of the highlights of Horton’s career:

– Serving two tours of duty in the Pentagon where she was working during the 9/11 attack and prayed with casualties in the Pentagon Courtyard.

– Advising the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness on Muslim issues following the 9/11 attack, while serving at the Department of Defense Level.

– Advising Army Operations Group and the Air Force Operations Group on the terrorist mindset.

– Supervision of religious support for Task Forces in Bosnia, Albania and Kosovo.

– Chief of Leadership Training in the Combined Arms Department at the Soldier Support Center.

– Teaching leadership courses at all levels of the military to include the NATO Chaplains Conference for the U.S. Air Force Chief of Chaplains.

– After training at the New Jersey State Police Academy, her lesson plans on Personal Safety and Rape Prevention were adopted by the Armed Forces Training Board.

Horton was the first woman Chaplain to attend the Army War College. From her studies of Divine Command Morality and the Abraham Tradition she has briefed the Extremist mindset in the Military Intelligence community, Inter-Agencies such as Homeland Defense, the U.S. Marshall’s Office, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and at Pace University in New York City.