Interfaith Spiritual Care: Understandings and Practices, Edited by Leah Dawn Bueckert and Daniel S. Schipani
2009. 328 pp. ISBN: 978-1926599076
Available on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, and Amazon.uk
The book aims to enhance the practice of spiritual caregivers in the hospital and other settings as they encounter the growing plurality of faith traditions and expressions among care receivers and colleagues.
"Because the authors focus on chaplaincy ministry, the book will be beneficial for chaplains, people who train chaplains, people who want to be chaplains, and people who are already involved in interfaith spiritual care. It is a particularly valuable resource for any chaplain or chaplaincy department where interfaith ministry occurs."
- Rodney W. Seeger, ACPE supervisor emeritus, Mill Valley, California
The research and writing project leading to this publication was designed with the following goals in mind: to explore the dynamics of interfaith spiritual care as a work of practical and pastoral theology; to identify reliable guidelines for the competent, and duly contextualized, practice of interfaith spiritual care; and to invite further cooperation on this subject among practitioners and scholars. The project aims to enhance the practice of spiritual caregivers in the hospital and other settings as they encounter the growing plurality of faith traditions and expressions among care receivers and colleagues. The present volume is therefore intended for chaplains, pastors, Clinical Pastoral Education students and other caregivers, such as counselors and psychotherapists, both in training and already in practice.
The first part stems from an unprecedented year-long seminar sponsored by the Lutheran Hospital of Indiana Pastoral Care Division and Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary Pastoral Care and Counseling Program. Such collaboration provided a unique opportunity to reflect systematically on spiritual care in interfaith situations in a health care center. The second part offers a partial view of the expanding field of interfaith spiritual care. The essays included reflect the commonalities and differences encountered in various culturally specific settings in diverse countries.
Daniel S. Schipani, from Argentina, is Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Indiana, USA. He holds a Dr. Psy. (Universidad Catholica Argentina) and a Ph.D. (Princeton Theological Seminary). Schipani serves as a pastoral counselor volunteer, lectures widely and is the author or editor of over twenty books. His research interests include intercultural hermeneutics and human formation and transformation processes.
Leah Dawn Bueckert, from Canada, serves as Spiritual Care Coordinator with the North Eastman Health Association in Manitoba, Canada. She earned a M. Div in Pastoral Care and Counseling (Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary) and completed a residency in Clinical Pastoral Education at the Lutheran Hospital of Indiana. Together with Daniel S. Schipani, Bueckert co-edited Spiritual Caregiving in the Hospital: Windows to Chaplaincy Ministry (Pandora Press, 2006). She also has a professional interest in the field of health care ethics.