Recovering Religious Voice and Imagination: A Response to Nolan's Case Study "He Needs to Talk!". Issue 1 (2nd January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pesut, Barbara
• Is Part Of: Journal of health care chaplaincy. Volume 22:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 28
• Page End: 39
• Publication Date: 2016-01-02
• Subjects: chaplaincy service -- existentialism -- hospital -- language -- palliative care -- qualitative research -- religion -- spirituality; Pastoral medicine -- Periodicals; Chaplains, Hospital -- Periodicals; Chaplains, Hospital; Pastoral medicine; Periodicals; 259.411
• DOI: 10.1080/08854726.2015.1113809
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0885-4726

Abstract

Abstract : In Nolan's case study, "He Needs to Talk!": A Chaplain's Response to Nonreligious Spiritual Care, " he asks an important question: "What is distinctive about the chaplain's role in working with nonreligious people?" This is a compelling question for chaplains working in a society where individuals are increasingly defining themselves as NOT religious. In this response, I will analyze how our current religious context, in which we feel over-responsible for an existential quest without a language to express our dilemma, creates a unique role for chaplaincy with the nonreligious. I will apply this context to Nolan's case study providing examples of how the care provided can support nonreligious individuals to find language to express their religious dilemmas and to foster a moral imagination that counters over-responsibility. Finally, I will suggest that case studies provide thick qualitative descriptions of care that help to reveal what chaplains do while countering stereotypical and thin accounts of religion.