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Loading... A ministry of presence : chaplaincy, spiritual care, and the lawby Winnifred Fallers Sullivan
None No current Talk conversations about this book. 1   kaulsu | Feb 15, 2015 |  no reviews | add a review
Most people in the United States today no longer live their lives under the guidance of local institutionalized religious leadership, such as rabbis, ministers, and priests; rather, liberals and conservatives alike have taken charge of their own religious or spiritual practices. This shift, along with other social and cultural changes, has opened up a perhaps surprising space for chaplains-spiritual professionals who usually work with the endorsement of a religious community but do that work away from its immediate hierarchy, ministering in a secular institution, such as a prison, the military, or an airport, to an ever-changing group of clients of widely varying faiths and beliefs. In A Ministry of Presence, Winnifred Fallers Sullivan explores how chaplaincy works in the United States-and in particular how it sits uneasily at the intersection of law and religion, spiritual care, and government regulation. Responsible for ministering to the wandering souls of the globalized economy, the chaplain works with a clientele often unmarked by a specific religious identity, and does so on behalf of a secular institution, like a hospital. Sullivan's examination of the sometimes heroic but often deeply ambiguous work yields fascinating insights into contemporary spiritual life, the politics of religious freedom, and the never-ending negotiation of religion's place in American institutional life. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)342.7308Social sciences Law Constitutional and administrative law North America Constitutional law--United States Jurisdiction over personsLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3)
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Wikipedia in English
1
Spiritual governance
Chaplaincy
Credentialing
The Constitution
Defining a "ministry of presence"
and an afterword
"I'm not really here to keep you from freaking out. I'm here to be with you while you freak out." Would that Sullivan have left it at that! It is a good definition of both chaplaincy and ministry of presence.
Then Sullivan began quoting Wendy Cadge, who wrote [Paging God: Religion in the Halls of Medicine], a book on hospital chaplains that was based on quite a bit of research and read like an undergraduate term paper.
Sullivan was very clear in defining the military's "spiritual fitness" program. She then outlined how the courts have distinguished between "spiritual" and "religious." Because the material was fresh to me, I found this section of the book interesting, even though, as with Cage, I felt I was reading a term paper.
Throughout the book Sullivan refers, on the one hand, to the fact that chaplains come from all religions, and on the other to the inherent Christian-ness of the vocations. She frequently refers to its incarnational aspects, and then defines incarnation as Christian.
Many times she ends a discussion of Protestant/Catholic differences/similarities with a sentence such as "The definitional ambiguity of the expression 'ministry of presence' helps to enable that convergence [between Catholics and Protestants] while also opening to a more general spiritual presence embracing religious practices beyond Christianity (kindle location 3348).
Assuming an "Afterword" is not a conclusion is not incorrect for this book, since Sullivan uses this spaces to further comment on her findings. But a book dealing with three separate aspects of a topic begs for a conclusion! After a couple of paragraphs and a long block quote on Minamalist Art (which was certainly a surprise), this is the final sentence in the main book (before the "Afterword"):
"At its best, a ministry of presence might seem to be understood to be a similar expression of the irresolvability of nature and culture [as 'empty presence' defines Minimalism in art].
As a reader, I am left wondering if Sullivan believes in a ministry of presence, or, for that matter, understands it.
Does she believe that chaplains can bring value in charged circumstances?
Does she believe, truly, that non- Christians can provide a ministry of presence to others of their religion, or to anyone at all?
I am glad to have read some of the issues Sullivan raises re: separation of religion and state, and some of the sources that she quotes, but I hope someone else takes up a pen to add to the field of chaplaincy literature.o (