Let My People Go
Mass incarceration is Jim Crow’s most obvious descendent. Faith communities must focus on the collective work of dismantling this catastrophic system. By Raphael G. Warnock
Featured
‘Chaplain, Can You Do an Exorcism?’
To accompany people struggling with command auditory hallucinations, the author uses a metaphorical approach and works within each patient’s own religious framework. By Jeremy D. Sher
A Jewel in the Lotus
The Buddha’s life, teachings, and response to human suffering inform practices of spiritual care in the hospital, and also in the classroom. By Chris Berlin
Can a Buddhist Monk Become a Chaplain?
Doing by Not-Knowing
The Man in the Tree
People as Sacred Texts: Chaplaincy in the Margins
Chanting through the Spring Surge
An interview with Sarah Byrne-Martelli, a chaplain at Massachusetts General Hospital, on the quiet camaraderie and unnamed grief among hospital staff during the pandemic. By Wendy McDowell
Chaplaincy as ‘Tragic Improv’
Erica Rose Long describes the honest conversations about race taking place at Massachusetts General Hospital and discusses the unique challenges and joys of chaplaincy. By Wendy McDowell
Dialogue
Theater as Chaplaincy for the LGBTQ+ Community
Theater has been a spiritual home for many LGBTQ+ folks, providing shared rituals and stories, a sense of being part of something greater than oneself, and mutual care and support. By J. Sylvan
Plague Wisdom
Learning from queer elders who cared for the dying through the horrors of the AIDS crisis. By Cody Hooks
A Minister Cultivates Abiding
The current pandemic provides a context to learn what it means to bear witness while impotent to reverse human suffering. By Emily Click
We Are All Called to Be ‘Heroes’
Rethinking our practice of calling essential workers ‘heroes’ in light of the debate over Dorothy Day’s canonization. By Elam D. Jones
In Review
Books
Waiting for Queer Theology
Queer Theology: Beyond Apologetics, by Linn Marie Tonstad, awaits a theology that moves beyond the narrow genres allotted to it. By Mark D. Jordan
Books
Bedeviling Spirit Possession in Ancient Christian Texts
A Q&A with Giovanni B. Bazzana on his newest book, Having the Spirit of Christ: Spirit Possession and Exorcism in the Early Christ Groups. By Joseph Kimmel
Books
A Story of Sarahs: Atwood’s Critique of Second-Wave Feminism
Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments resonates with the energy of dread saturating life under COVID-19 in the Trump administration. By Mara Willard
Syllabus
Practical and Spiritual Resources for Chaplaincy and Pastoral Care
A selected reading list from Harvard Divinity School faculty and chaplains.
Poetry
Two Poems
Oral History of Silence
Blackchurch
By Jason Myers
Prayer
By Diane Mehta
Perspective
Blessed Are the Caregivers
The authors in this issue are chaplains, faith leaders, and professors. In these roles, they lament inequities, cry out for change, and demonstrate how to ‘treat the people’s needs as holy.’ By Wendy McDowell
