Jude
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 58, No. 1 – Fall 2015
Managing Editor: W. Madison Grace II
Edited by Lucy A. Forster-Smith. Woodstock, VT: Skylight Paths, 2013. 337 pages. Hardcover, $40.00.
Editor Lucy Forster-Smith notes that this volume arose out of conversations between university chaplains and a concern they shared that their stories remained largely unknown (xvi). It therefore functions as something of an apologia for chaplaincy in higher education. In a world of increasing secularism and financial constraints, some might see the chaplaincy as an unnecessary luxury; after all, the church (or other religious institutions) should be doing the work of ministering to university students and staff. Thus, the contributors seek to explain not only how they minister, but also how their ministries impact the mission of the educational institutions they serve. The book includes essays from a number of chaplains who represent a variety of religious traditions and types of educational institutions, and they approach the essays in diverse ways: by telling stories, by offering theological reflections, by providing historical analysis—all with a view to giving the reader food for thought about how chaplains have contributed to campus life and the lives of university students.
The book has both strengths and weaknesses. I will comment briefly on each, beginning with its shortcomings. First, while the book seeks to offer a wide spectrum of religious perspectives on chaplaincy in higher education, it fails to include the voice of one of the most influential movements on the American religious landscape, namely evangelical Christianity. This is a glaring omission, just given the sheer numbers of evangelicals in the United States, but all the more so due to two other factors. First, concerns of evangelicals with regard to the implications for First Amendment rights of chaplains (mostly military, but also healthcare, public service, and university) have been in the news almost constantly for the last ten years or more. Second, and somewhat ironically, one of the chapters used the exclusion of evangelicals by liberal Protestants as a way of chastising those university chaplains who allow their own assumptions/religious perspectives to limit the scope of their ministries. In his chapter entitled, “Stewards of the New Secular,” Samuel Speers tells of a panel discussion on the Mel Gibson movie, “The Passion of the Christ” that his office sponsored. At the conclusion of the event, he was approached by an evangelical student who expressed her disappointment that no evangelical had been invited to participate. Speers admits that it was wrong of him to exclude such a voice from the panel and notes that he has since tried to incorporate one in his events because it “unsettles” the campus’s (and his own) “liberal assumptions” (248). As he puts it, the encounter with the student showed him that a “kind of hidden liberal Protestantism can stand in for the secular” in that context (249). Unfortunately, the editor of the book did not see that such a voice was needed.
Second, the contributors to the book are all decidedly liberal and pluralistic in their approach to chaplaincy. That is, the contributors treat all religions as being equally true or speaking to the same Reality. Numerous examples could be given, but just to give one, in describing her work in helping grieving students connect to one another, Karlin-Neumann writes, “Our gathering is devoid of religious symbols or rituals, yet presiding over this group of mourners is one of the most sanctified acts of my chaplaincy” (137). The use of “sanctified” here is curious. Students from many faiths or no faith (Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Shinto, Native American, and secular students) participate, and there appears to be little concern to point them to the truth about God. Yet the exclusive claims of many of the religions represented demand that at least some are wrong, and this means that the time cannot be sanctified—set apart unto God—unless universalism is true.
Third, there are times when the reader can walk away from the book with the impression that chaplaincy is only about connecting with people (or helping them connect to one another) on an emotional level; sometimes the emotional and spiritual are conflated in the essays. For example, in the opening essay, Kugler describes a Good Humor ice cream cart that she keeps in her office so that students will feel welcome. The idea is fine, and in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, it became something of an excuse for students to come by the chaplain’s office, but Kugler argues that the cart became “one of the holiest objects at Interfaith Center” because students connected to one another over a dreamsicle and thus found comfort from the cart.
Of course, each of these criticisms can be reduced to the complaint that the book is theologically liberal. For those coming from a liberal tradition or liberal approach to ministry, there is much to find of use in the anecdotes and theological reflections in the book. Oliver’s essay, which makes use of William Sloan Coffin’s legacy at Yale to discuss the fluid nature of chaplaincy, is particularly noteworthy, as is Hong’s essay, which reads like an apologia for the viability (and even depth) of syncretistic approaches to spirituality and ministry, something he calls “the value of hybrid identities,” even while he offers a rather philosophically rigorous critique of postmodernism (227).
The book effectively raises the key questions anyone considering chaplaincy ministry should consider, namely questions about the relationship of the sacred and profane on the university campus, the role of the chaplain in the institution’s mission, and how the chaplain can serve those of other faiths while remaining true to his/her own. As Shorb puts it, “What does it mean to be the God-person on a godless campus?” (76). While some readers will not find the answers given by many of the authors to be satisfactory, they will nevertheless be challenged to think through their own theology and philosophy as they relate to these issues.
The book also serves as a storehouse of creative ideas of how to connect with parishoners (in this case, students). In what is arguably the best chapter in the book, Henry-Crowe wrestles with the balance of her roles as religious educator and advocate generally, and religious leader of her own (Methodist) tradition. She has come to see her job as extending far beyond the walls of the chapel, in order to create opportunities to minister to students as they go through their prescribed courses of study. In what can only be seen as genius creativity, she has made it her practice to accompany medical students through their human anatomy class where most will encounter their first cadavers in a clinical sense. For many, the experience is unsettling both emotionally and spiritually, and the chaplain’s presence and availability provides a sense of calmness and solemnity, and an opportunity for processing.
Ultimately, the work offers some valuable insight into chaplaincy in higher education and in general. However, it does so, ironically enough given the diversity of its authorship, from a rather limited perspective. This means that it has a more limited value than it could have otherwise enjoyed. Nevertheless, it effectively meets its stated goals and will prove both useful and provocative to those entering or working in higher education chaplaincy, as well as those who work in higher educational administration.
