Voices at the Forefront of Care and Justice

Abstract

The first issue in volume 32 of the Journal of Pastoral Theology includes a special issue on chaplaincy and highlights from the 2021 Society of Pastoral Theology (SPT) Annual Study Conference with the theme ‘Viral Care and Viral Justice in an Apocalyptic World.’ In the chaplaincy special issue, we are pleased to feature ‘The Changing Landscape of Spiritual Care: Implications for the Education of Chaplains,’ guest-edited by Shelly Rambo of Boston University and Cheryl Giles of Harvard Divinity School. These scholars charge pastoral theologians to focus more intently on educating students for the work of a diverse array of chaplaincy roles, including not only military, hospital, prison, and educational chaplaincy, but also chaplaincy that attends to the needs of political protestors, eco-chaplains, and chaplains responding to those devastated by pandemics and natural disasters. Rambo and Giles argue that chaplaincy is becoming the primary professional form of ministries of spiritual and pastoral care in our time. They assert that seminaries and divinity schools must adjust to this new reality, instead of merely tweaking traditional Masters of Divinity programs that privilege the role of Christian church pastors over other religious leaders and over other forms of ministry. To this end, Rambo and Giles offer us a series of eleven short articles written by chaplaincy practitioners and educators. These authors discuss various issues arising from their work experience. Prominent among these is the need for more chaplains representing diverse religious communities and racial identities. Pointing out the many obstacles that current modes of education and training present for chaplains in minority groups and minority religious groups, these essays challenge pastoral theologians to reflect on pedagogies and practices in light of the changing conditions and situations that practitioners are encountering in this altered professional landscape. The issues raised here are in some ways not new to us in the field. Kathleen Greider, Tom Beaudoin, and others have challenged the ubiquity of ‘Christianicity’ in models of pastoral and spiritual care. Carrie Doehring has long advocated for the teaching of inter-religious competencies to students in seminaries and divinity schools. Phillis Sheppard, Chanequa Walker-Barnes, and many other scholars in pastoral theology have been raising important critiques of racism and white supremacy in teaching, research, and pastoral practice for justice and liberation. Still, these current articles cry out for change, reminding us that this field that resides at the intersection of theory and practice is strengthened when scholars and teachers listen to the voices of practitioners fully engaged in living ministries of care. Rambo and Giles point to three needed foci in teaching that are familiar to most who teach pastoral and spiritual care classes: skills in meaning-making, interpersonal competencies, and navigating organizations. If pastoral theologians have been teaching these skills already, what are we missing? Perhaps it is a deeper engagement with practitioners who are in the forefront of chaplaincy work, those who can tell academics how theory and practice play out where the rubber the hits the road. We hope this special issue helps to spark increased dialogue between academics and chaplains in their many particular contexts. These authors remind us, also, of the human toll on chaplains who themselves experience intersectional forms of