Responding to Life Itself: A Proposed Understanding of Domain, Goal and Interventions for Chaplaincy in a Secular Age.

Abstract

Processes of secularization have impacted the chaplaincy profession regarding at least three features: its domain, goals and interventions. Traditional religious understandings of those features no longer reflect the diverse worldviews of chaplains and their clients. In this article, we present a comprehensive and coherent generic model of chaplaincy that encompasses different religion- and worldview-based types of chaplaincy. We propose to understand the domain of chaplaincy as the process of 'responding to life itself'. The corresponding goal of chaplaincy care is well-being with regard to that process, which may be called 'existential well-being'. Existential well-being can be achieved along the lines of 'The Ritual Bath Model'. By formulating this overarching model, we hope to contribute to discussions among chaplains on their collective professional self-understanding, and to support them in confidently accounting for their professional activities within secular contexts.