Chaplaincy in a pluralistic context

Modern society is characterized by pluralism. We examine how chaplaincy encounters pluralism and what this might mean for chaplaincy and chaplaincy education. Religious pluralism impacts both how the profession is organized and how it is practiced. Financial and legislative structures play an important role in creating space for religious pluralism in chaplaincy. This intersects with "professional pluralism" within spiritual care. In many countries, spiritual care is increasingly considered a responsibility of a wide variety of healthcare professionals. This requires interprofessional collaboration in which different understandings of and approaches to spirituality and spiritual care need to be made explicit and negotiated. For chaplaincy and chaplaincy education, this has five important implications: a) developing interfaith competence as a Core Professional Skill; b) building a shared professional identity while honoring diversity; c) mastering interprofessional collaboration; d) addressing structural inequalities and power dynamics; and e) embracing both generic and specialized approaches to spiritual care.