Religious Diversity and University Chaplaincy

Rev Dr. Gregory W. McGonigle

Dean of Religious Life, Emory University

Gmcgoni@emory.edu

Since the 1990s, the religious diversity of United States universities has increased, with growing numbers of students, faculty, and staff who are Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and Humanist. To support these demographics, university chaplaincies and spiritual life programs have been expanding beyond their Christian and Jewish compositions to include chaplains and programs for these traditions. Through interviews with these new chaplains, this book examines how these chaplaincies developed, the preparation the chaplains needed, their responsibilities, and the current challenges and the future prospects of these programs. It provides valuable advice for university leaders about how and why to develop spiritual life programs to support today’s religious diversity.

Gregory W. McGonigle is dean of religious life and university chaplain of Emory University, where he has built a multifaith chaplaincy team and designed and opened the Emory Interfaith Center. He previously developed multifaith chaplaincy programs at Tufts, Oberlin, and UC Davis. He is a Unitarian Universalist minister and holds degrees in religious studies and divinity from Brown, Harvard, and Boston University. He has been a researcher for the Harvard Pluralism Project and is a past president of the National Association of College and University Chaplains (NACUC) and currently secretary of the International Association of Chaplains in Higher Education (IACHE).

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