The Chaplain's Presence and Medical Power: Rethinking Loss in the Hospital System

(Hardback)

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Why is loss present but rarely spoken of in the hospital system How does such silence carry over to the practices of chaplains who accompany dying patients and grieving families Richard Coble critically examines his experiences as a hospital chaplain to analyze the place of spiritual care in wider trends vexing healthcare today, including its persistent disparities and its related inability to reckon with human decline. Simultaneously, he offers routes for chaplains to be a force of change.

Reviews

Richard Coble cuts straight through the overwhelming rush of todays medical complex, offering not only a brilliant analysis of healthcares technological prowess but also wise and experienced guidance about how chaplains might subvert its relentless obliteration of death and help us grasp deaths loss, catching a glimmer of the transcendent. An absolutely essential and unique guide for understanding chaplaincy in advanced postmodern society. -- Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, Vanderbilt University
When I was a chaplain I was confused by the chaplaincy literatures language of non-anxious presence. It did not seem complex enough for what I did. Coble helps me interpret this by describing how hospitals are places to treat death, while chaplains honor the void after deathwithout much of an agendaand then state the name of God, which is something new and unexpected. Coble understands what it is like to be a chaplain, and he uses Foucault, Esposito, Nancy, Bataille, and Derrida to deftly explain the work to readers. Chaplains and pastoral care professionals will understand what they do, say, and write in medical charts better from reading this book. -- Philip Browning Helsel, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Coble brilliantly analyzes the political trajectories of healthcare that co-opt chaplains into helping patients accept death. Elegantly and cogently written, this book offers subversive theological ways for chaplains and religious leaders to journey into the void of death and lament its profound losses with those who are dying. -- Carrie Doehring, Iliff School of Theology
Drawing on both critical theory and personal experience, Richard Coble offers those who work in pastoral theologywhether as caregivers or as academicsa much-needed analysis of hospital chaplaincy. The Chaplains Presence and Medical Power is as political as it is pastoral and, with this book, Coble has established himself as an exciting emerging voice in pastoral care. -- Nathan Carlin, McGovern Medical School

Author Bio

Richard Coble, PhDis associate pastor of congregational care and adult education at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church and adjunct professor of pastoral care for Lexington Theological Seminary.