Chaplaincy as Public Theology: A Reflective Exploration
Issue: Vol 3 No. 2 (2015)
Journal: Health and Social Care Chaplaincy
Subject Areas: Healthcare Communication
Abstract:
This article explores the need for a renewed and creative engagement with theology on the part of chaplains so as to articulate and assist the public work of chaplains in (mostly secular) institutions. Acknowledging the current performed public theology of chaplains and the dearth of formal theological activity, some of the possible inhibitors to engaging with theology are then discussed. Images and metaphors of theology are advanced with a view to showing the pluriform nature of this activity. It is then suggested that chaplains could adopt more creative and imaginative approaches to their theological traditions that might enable prophetic and apologetic roles within organizations, to the benefit of those organizations and of chaplaincy itself.
Author: Stephen Pattison
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