Place-Based Chaplaincy: An Interfaith Approach to Chaplaincy Training

Abstract

Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) claims to be an interfaith chaplaincy training program. However, what constitutes interfaith chaplaincy is not clearly defined in CPE literature. This study asks the question: “Does interfaith chaplaincy work?” In other words, “Can a person be trained to offer support to people from a range of religious traditions other than their own?” To examine this question, I interviewed thirteen professional chaplains and conducted three focus group interviews with a group of chaplaincy students in Hawaiʻi. I argue that, while CPE training effectively prepares students for a ministry of presence, it does not train students to function as religious experts. To succeed in an interfaith capacity, I suggest that chaplains need religious and socio-cultural education specific to the populations with whom they are working. My study concludes with a proposal for a place-based chaplaincy course which integrates an academic approach to religion with CPE’s experiential training program.