Abstract Chaplaincy is as diverse as the individuals who practice it, and no standard definition of chaplaincy exists. Into this messy reality steps Robert Klitzman’s book, Doctor, Will You Pray for Me?—an impressive collection of stories and verbatim reports gained through in-depth structured interviews with healthcare chaplains and their patients. Here Klitzman offers firsthand insight into the practices and perspectives of today’s chaplains as they attend to the spiritual dimension of human experience in the hospital. Along the way, he sheds light on many under-acknowledged complications in chaplaincy, such as its separation from traditional religious practice and its instrumentalization toward medicalized ends. For these and other successes, the book ought to be applauded. Yet, Klitzman’s exploration stops short of addressing the theological questions his research reveals; he seems to accept the current state of practice, including its contradictions, as a good justified by its usefulness for medicine. His text may, therefore, advance knowledge about chaplains and their patients’ spirituality without advancing understanding of the larger forces aiming to instrumentalize religion and spirituality.
Jordan Mason (Tue,) studied this question.
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