Should clinical pastoral education and professional chaplaincy become more scientific? It's a matter of salt
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 30, 2026

Ole Isacson: Development of New Therapies for Parkinson's Disease
Published on: April 29, 2007
1Baroody Pastoral Counseling Center, 252 South Dargan Street, Florence, SC 29506, USA. Blakelybaroody@aol.com
Abstract:
I address the relationship of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) and professional chaplaincy to science by looking at the past in order to find meaning for the present. Specially, I explore the stories of Elwood Worcester, Anton Boisen and the beginnings of CPE. I conclude that these and other founding fathers believed that they were called to continue Christ's healing ministry and turned to science as means to do so although their relationship to science was often strained. Three issues emerge from the past that offer meaning for the present: the significance of a spiritual calling to do healing, the significance of science's "salt effect" as the means that makes a healing ministry possible, and the significance of faith as the identity around which a relationship with science is developed.
Related Concept Videos
Psychology as a Science
The scientific method in psychology involves six critical steps: making observations, formulating hypotheses, conducting tests, analyzing...
The Scientific Method in Nursing Process
When using research findings to change practice, one must understand the process used to guide a study. The scientific method is a systematic, step-by-step process that supports the data's validity, reliability, and generalizability. As a result, findings can be safely...
The Scientific Method
The Scientific Method
The Scientific Method
Scientific Nature of Social Psychology