American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting

Innovations in Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care

The Chaplaincy Innovation Lab is pleased to participate in the American Academy of Religion through the program unit Innovations in Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care. For the 2020 virtual Annual Meeting, the Lab was present through several sessions (listed below).

Movement Chaplaincy

Monday, November 30, 11-1 Eastern

This roundtable will feature contemporary spiritual leaders reflecting on the emerging vocational role of movement chaplaincy. Movement chaplains offer accompaniment to those in social change events, organizations, and movements. Panelists and a respondent will focus on considering the training, networks, and structures of accountability movement chaplains need to be purposeful, resilient spiritual practitioners. The essence of this roundtable will center on how movement chaplains are trained, how they accompany diverse individuals including those with no religious affiliation, and how chaplaincy coalesces as a professional field, especially in the area of social justice movements, its leaders, and organizations.

Moral Anguish and the Pandemic (with Moral Injury and Recovery Program Unit)

Monday, December 7, 4-5:30 Eastern

The COVID-19 pandemic generated an unprecedented global trauma with deep moral dimensions. This wildcard session featuring leading scholars will address the impact of moral distress caused during the pandemic including: the role of first-responders, chaplains and religious leaders of all kinds; the role of institutional racism and the disproportionate access to healthcare; and the moral outrage toward persons in roles of authority and responsibility. The scholarly discourses on trauma studies and moral injury will inform this critical engagement. Panelists will address the complex moral dimensions of the pandemic and provide vision for responses in the aftermath. The session is supported by the Moral Injury and Recovery unit and the Innovations in Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care unit.

• Rita Brock, Volunteers of America, Presiding
• Panelists
  • Shelly Rambo, Boston University
  • Zachary Moon, Chicago Theological Seminary
  • Stephanie M. Crumpton, McCormick Theological Seminary
  • Najeeba Syeed-Miller, Chicago Theological Seminary

Interfaith Chaplaincy and Higher Education (co-sponsored with Interreligious and Interfaith Studies Unit)

Wednesday, December 9, 4-5:30 Eastern

How can we identify sites of demand for chaplaincy and spiritual care and help connect spiritual caregivers to those in need? How can we decolonize the historical Christian hegemony in chaplaincy education and CPE? How can chaplaincy training become more inclusive of diverse spiritual lifestances—learning not only about different religious and secular traditions but also from them? How can we also productively engage the broad range of communities in which chaplains may be working?