BOOKS

Dispatches from the Chaplaincy

Review by Joshua Rodriguez-Hobbs experiences, augmented by examples
from other chaplains, to provide a
n Foundations of Chaplaincy: A candid picture and help in discern-

I Practical Guide, Alan Baker pro-

vides a survey of institutional chap-
laincy for seminarians and parish
ment.
He writes honestly and tenderly
about the specific theological chal-
clergy discerning a new ministry as a lenges posed by the ecumenical and
chaplain. Baker writes primarily from interfaith nature of chaplaincy, and
his perspective as a retired naval chap- provides helpful questions and sce-
lain, although he broadly addresses narios for responding to these chal-
institutional chaplaincy. lenges. In his chapter on the chaplain
The book describes the joys, oppor- as provider, Baker provides useful
tunities, and challenges that distin- strategies that all ministers can incor-
guish chaplaincy from traditional, porate into their practice of pastoral
parish-based ministries. Although counseling.
Baker addresses the interfaith nature Baker’s experience as a military
of institutional chaplaincy, he writes chaplain dominates the book. He
from a confessionally Christian per- writes at length about the theological
spective. challenges military chaplains face in
Baker’s book is divided into six providing ecumenical chapel services
chapters and various appendices. He that are unlikely to apply to chaplains
begins with a broad chapter, which in other arenas.
delves into the call to chaplaincy and Foundations of Chaplaincy His comments on the chaplain as
the biblical basis of chaplaincy. The A Practical Guide adviser are shaped by his experience
next four chapters detail the functional By Alan T. Baker as a military chaplain expected to
capacities Baker identifies as essential Eerdmans, pp. 280, $24.99 advise the commanding officer. Most
to the role of chaplain: provider, facili- non-military chaplains lack this access
tator, caregiver, and adviser. to their institution’s administration.
Each chapter addresses how tradi- as they move from a parish to chap- Baker has written a guide to discern
tional seminary formation prepares laincy, and the differences between a call to chaplaincy more than a guide
ministers for this capacity and what chaplains and other ministers. These to the ministry of the chaplain. Experi-
additional skills and knowledge chap- appendices are some of the most enced chaplains will glean insights
lains need for this ministry. A final helpful parts of the book. Baker pres- from the book, but they are not the
chapter integrates all of the material ents 13 different contexts in which intended audience.
and addresses the spiritual and emo- chaplaincy occurs, with each descrip-
tional self-care required to sustain a tion written by chaplains serving in The Rev. Joshua Rodriguez-Hobbs
chaplain’s ministry. that context. serves as the Episcopal Chaplain and an
Baker provides five appendices that Baker does an admirable job ACPE Inc. Certified Educator Candi-
consider chaplaincy contexts, case describing chaplaincy, both in the date at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, a
studies to help in discernment, an opportunities and challenges it pres- joint ministry of the Episcopal Diocese
example of Clinical Pastoral Educa- ents. It never seems he is attempting to of Maryland and the Johns Hopkins
tion, a checklist to assist parish priests sell the concept. He honestly offers his Medical Institutions.

38 THe LIVInG CHURCH • March 21, 2021

 BOOKS

Wise Choices at Life’s End

Review by Jason Poling for themselves. One reason for this, as
Nuland noted decades ago, is that
ll of us in ministry have walked physicians are trained to see death as

A with a family through the death

of a loved one. Too many of us
have had the heart-rending experience
the enemy; to lose a patient is to lose a
battle, and nobody likes to lose.
Morhaim notes concerns about lia-
of doing so amid divided opinions on bility, but argues that it is incumbent
end-of-life care. Old grievances, suspi- on physicians to be honest with their
cions about ulterior motives, and patients by offering the kind of care
residual guilt can compound the diffi- they would want to receive were the
culties imposed by uncertainty about roles reversed.
the future, lack of medical under- One particular aspect of this book’s
standing, legitimate concerns about promise for ministry is its broad suit-
finances, and sincere ethical commit- ability. Morhaim manages to address
ments. An already painful experience ethically contested issues like assisted
can become still more painful. nutrition with a generous and respectful
In light of these concerns, a wise spirit, while ensuring that his reader
pastor will encourage congregants to appreciates what is at stake in making
make plans for end-of-life care well decisions about them.
before those decisions must be made. His treatment of death panels and
Dan Morhaim’s Preparing for a Better certain cases like that of Terri Schiavo
End: Expert Lessons on Death and may feel a bit uncomfortable to those
Dying for You and Your Loved Ones Preparing for a Better End especially attuned to the politics of these
may be a useful tool in that work. Expert Lessons on Death and Dying for matters. But any reader looking for an
Morhaim, an emergency-room You and Your Loved Ones engaging conversation partner rather
physician, lays out the range of ques- By Dan Morhaim, with Shelley Morhaim
than a debate opponent will surely find
tions that somebody, at some point, Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 272, $25
that here. Indeed, the broad and uni-
may need to answer about the care of a versal applicability of this book could
dying person. He offers the means to afford opportunities for ecumenical or
think through and record a person’s the medical understanding necessary even interfaith discussion groups.
answers to those questions, so that to work through end-of-life questions, One of the best ways people can
intentions are clear. but also to speak frankly about what he demonstrate love for their family is to
The book is engaging and accessible and his colleagues think. “We physi- make their wishes known well in
to a wide readership. Clergy who were cians have witnessed the dying advance. This book can be a means
exposed in seminary to older works process,” he notes. “We know the med- toward that better end.
like Sherwin Nuland’s How We Die icines, and we know what works.”
(1995) will find additional case studies According to studies Morhaim cites, The Rev. Dr. Jason A. Poling serves as
that may help implant medical con- as well as anecdotal research, most priest in charge of St. Andrew’s Epis-
cepts in non-medical brains, and prac- physicians would prefer to die gently copal Church in Pasadena, Md., and as
tical theology faculty may find this a and naturally. ecumenical officer for the Diocese of
useful addition in courses on ministry Yet conventional end-of-life care Maryland. He directs the Doctor of
to the dying. very often involves aggressive meas- Ministry Program at St. Mary’s Ecu-
Morhaim is able to present not only ures most physicians would not choose menical Institute in Baltimore.

40 THe LIVInG CHURCH • March 21, 2021

CULTURes

A Future-Present Reality
The Black Church Christians have rightly seen in their Because of the variances throughout
This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song faith a “future-present” reality, the the Black Church, there are variances
streaming on PBs promises of god fulfilled in Jesus in of opinion within it, in contrast with
force in the here and now, as well as in other Christian traditions. Though
Review by Brandt L. Montgomery fullness at the hour of our death. Back Christianity was and has always
The history of the Black Church been quick to confront racism, it has
enry Louis gates’s two-part shows us how, instead of bringing god

H
been slow to address other issues such
PBs documentary The Black down to us on earth, we should go up as sexism, homophobia, and environ-
Church: This Is Our Story, This by our praise to god in heaven. That is mental justice.
Is Our Song is like myriad song styles. how the reality of the good news is best The Black Church has had its prob-
There are parts that are happy and felt in this time, in anticipation of the lems and failures, and gates does not
others that are like the blues. But just next. attempt to cloak them. An important
like the Psalms, there is always a song gates does well in presenting the question comes from such engage-
of praise for the living god. Though Black Church as a non-monolithic reli- ment: What is the future of the Black
Black Christians have at many times gious institution. For those unfamiliar Church?
felt forsaken by the world, to quote one with the Black Church, or under the In this question we see the work of
hymn, “I’ve found a friend in Jesus, he’s impression that it is of only one expres- the living Christ. The Black Church
everything to me.” sive style, gates’s presentation is an today still faces many of the same
gates says Black Americans did not important contribution to breaking issues and problems it always has. It is
embrace Christianity solely to enter down perceptions and the study of also still developing through the guid-
heaven. Though heaven was a “distant Black religion. ance and power of the Holy spirit. That
motivation,” Blacks embraced Christi- The Black Church is varied in its is because the Black Church is part of
anity “so that they could believe in representative denominations, emo- the Church, whose head is Jesus
another kind of future here on earth.” tional expressions, and liturgical tradi- Christ, who lives and still saves.
The future they saw and claimed was tions. This variance and America’s his-
a world without racial inequality, pain, tory of racial and social inequality have The Rev. Brandt Montgomery is the
and sorrow, but everlasting life and kept before Christians the importance chaplain of Saint James School in
peace with the all-loving Jesus. Black of justice. Hagerstown, Maryland, 

22 THe LIVInG CHURCH • April 4, 2021